Northern Frost
by Rusbuster
Summary: Natsu has been trying to hide his new feelings for Gray, thinking it threatens their already "stable" friendship. Then an unnatural, unknown winter strikes Fiore, making the kingdom get some foreign help. Natsu now has to deal with masking his true emotions, along with getting rid of the trouble the snow brought. YAOI. Gratsu.
1. Summer Snow

**Yo! I have made a new, longer story with shorter chapters. I ain't abandoning my other stories, I just wanted this idea out of my head.**

 **With that out of the way, I do hope you'll like this!**

 **Oh, and ratings might change in the future, so keep an eye out!**

* * *

 **GENERAL POV**

 **FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL**

It's currently the middle of the year in Magnolia, and people were expecting a bright, sunny day with all the birds chirping and such. They didn't get it, since winter came early for some reason, coating the place in snow and ice. And it was colder than usual also, which made Natsu shiver from the cold, surprisingly, even though they were inside the guild hall.

"H-hey, popsicle! Quit making the place so d-damn c-cold already!"

"That's not me, flame-breath! It's this weather!"

The two bickered on about the weather, Natsu blaming Gray and Gray attempting to shut Natsu up. They were on the brink of fighting again, until eventually, someone shutted them up.

"Unless you two stop bickering about the cold like a married couple, I will throw the both of you outside until you two turn into snow angels!"

Erza pointed two swords at each of the boy's throats, along with a glare that pierced their very souls and made them tremble in fear. They clung to each other out of instinct.

"S-sorry!"

They both said in unison. Erza soon lowered her swords and her glare of doom subsided.

"As if the sudden cold was bad enough, you two have to make a fuss about it.."

She left the two boys, going to Mirajane for an x number of strawberry shortcakes. Gray and Natsu were unaware that they were still clinging onto each other, which was making the former very uncomfortable.

"Let go of me idiot."

 _..like a married couple..._

Natsu still clung onto Gray; Erza's words repeated in his head, which made his face redden. Meanwhile, Gray was desperately trying to get Natsu off of him, but the dragon slayer clung onto him tighter out of reflex, and buried his face in Gray's shirtless, muscular chest. The ice mage caught a glimpse of Natsu's face, all red yet content.

"Natsu. Get off me."

"Don't wanna. You're so warm."

Natsu clung to Gray tighter and closer to the point that he was hugging him, and he nuzzled at Gray's chest while making content noises, embarrassing and confusing Gray even more.

"Uhh, Natsu? What're you doing?"

After some time, Natsu snapped out of his own trance, immediately jerking away from Gray, all embarrassed and flushed in a color that would rival Erza's hair. He looked at Gray in horror, while said ice mage looked at him in confusion.

"I-I don't know what just happened! I swear, I didn't mean it!"

"What?"

"I-uh.. S-sorry about that!"

Natsu immediately went up and broke into a sprint, rushing out of the guild hall. The other guild members gawked at the scene that unfolded in front of them, making Gray nervous if Natsu's actions gave them some ideas.

"What?"

* * *

 **LATER...**

Lucy stepped up to a table with Juvia, Levy, and Gajeel, who seemed to be lightly sniffing at the air for some reason.

"Soooo, does anyone know what's causing Christmas to come early?"

"It has to be Gray! He did all this for Juvia and..."

 _Great, here comes the Gray tsunami..._

 **A "FEW" MINUTES LATER...**

"Hey, Levy. You know anything about today's weather? Like, why is it snowing at this time of year?"

"Did you ask Gray about it? He might know."

Levy gestured to the ice mage that's sitting on the far end of the guild hall who appears to be staring at his cold drink, yet he looks spaced out.

"Yeah, I already asked him. He has no idea."

Lucy gestured goodbye to Levy. As she walked away, she thought of some other people that might know, Master Makarov coming to mind first.

"Hmm, may Master might know a thing or two.."

* * *

 **MAKAROV'S OFFICE**

"I have no leads about this sudden winter phenomena. But it's coming from the north."

Makarov looked at a map provided by the Magic Council concerning the sudden winter phenomena. The map showed that the cold front was all coming in from the north, and the weather patterns were unusual; it was all coming in from a fixed point there, in a fixed pattern, which Makarov suspects to be the rumored Moskovia.

"The north?"

"Yes, the north. I've heard rumors of an isolated, militaristic state situated in those icy wastes. And I think they're the ones causing this."

"I didn't know a country existed up north!"

"No one does, it's just a rumor. But since all these clouds and winds are coming from the north, I can only assume that it's their doing. If they even exist, that is. For one, these patterns are not natural."

Makarov stared at the map, notably looking at the uncharted territories of the north.

"So, no one really knows what's causing this?"

"No."

Satisfied, yet unsatisfied at the same time, Lucy went for the door.

"Alright, thanks gramps."

"Wait. Before you go, I'd like for you to tell the others that we'll be having a visitor tomorrow. He's an envoy from a group situated in the north that'll be helping us with investigating the weather, and I don't want his first impression of Fairy Tail being a guild that destroys everything in its path, especially because of **THOSE TWO."**

Makarov placed extreme emphasis on **"THOSE TWO"** , notably referring to the destructive Natsu and Gray.

"You think this visitor is from this country, if it exists?"

"I believe we could just ask him when he gets here."

"Okay, gramps. I'll tell the guild about the visitor, especially those two."

Lucy went out of the office, and went to tell groups of her fellow guildmates about the incoming visitor. Natsu and Gray were nowhere to be found, going home early due to what happened earlier.

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY, FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL**

Master Makarov went up to the podium to make a formal announcement about the visitor, clad in his Wizard Saint attire for some reason. He made his speech.

"Alright, brats. Listen up! We have a visitor coming in today, and he's a special envoy from a group in the north. He'll be able to help us in understanding this unusual weather. Now, I don't want any collateral damage today, got it?"

The crowd before him was a chorus of "alright!" and "yea gramps". Of course, he shot Fairy Tail's two most destructive mages a short death glare.

"Good. He should be arriving in a few hours. When he gets here, give him a Fairy Tail welcome!"

The crowd cheered in approval, most of them chanting about drinks and food, then someone knocked a glass over.

 **"WITHOUT** any collateral damage, got it? I cannot stress that enough. That'll be all."

Makarov went off the podium, and the crowd dispersed all around the guild hall. Makarov's communication lacrima suddenly rang. He picked up and answered the lacrima.

"Greetings. Is there a problem?"

Makarov spoke onto the lacrima. A voice replied from the lacrima.

"Mmhmm. I shall go there to pick you up personally then..."

"Of course. No problem."

The other end hung up. Makarov pocketed his communication lacrima afterwards. He looked for Erza, who he motioned for to come to him. The scarlet-haired woman went to his position near the guild doors.

"Erza. Our visitor seems to be stuck at the train station, and I have to fetch him. Can you escort me?"

"Of course, Master Makarov. I shall see to it that you and our visitor will remain unharmed."

Just as Makarov and Erza were about to go out, Natsu busted through the guild doors, and immediately took notice of the guild master; Makarov immediately developed thoughts of "Aw shit..." as he saw Natsu, sensing that something bad is going to happen while he's away.

"Gramps? Where ya going?"

"I'm fetching our visitor, Natsu. He seems to be stuck at the train station."

"Hah! Stuck at the train station! That's new!"

"You're one to talk, Natsu. At least that guy doesn't get sick on trains hmmm?"

Happy flew by, inserted his two-cents about Natsu and trains, and immediately flew away. The mention of trains made Natsu slightly sick.

"Ughh, don't remind me..."

Natsu immediately turned his attention back to Makarov, forcibly cutting off his train of thought about trains.

"We'll be quick. We won't take less than an hour."

"Ok gramps!"

As Makarov stepped out, Erza gave Natsu a quick glare, to which the latter shuddered at.

 **"BEHAVE."**

"A-aye!"

Then Erza closed the doors with such force that the whole building shook for a moment, like an earthquake.

Natsu shrugged the glare off, and he went off to get some food. The sight of a certain ice-mage some tables away made Natsu blush, and he attempted to hide it under his scarf. He got some food from the bar and sat a number of tables away from Gray's. From out of nowhere, Gajeel plopped himself unceremoniously to a seat adjacent from Natsu's, slightly irritating the latter.

"What do you want, iron-face?"

"You smell."

Natsu squinted at Gajeel then sniffed himself, not finding any foul stench emanating from himself.

"Hey! I took a bath earlier!"

"Not that kind of smell. You **SMELL."**

Natsu looked at Gajeel confusedly, thinking at the Iron Dragon was just messing with him; Gajeel's neutral face said otherwise.

"What?"

"Ughh, are you that stupid? Didn't your dragon teach you anything?"

"Teach me what, huh?!"

"Mates and shit like that."

Natsu gave Gajeel a solemn look, then steeling himself immediately afterwards.

"What about it? Igneel taught me some things.."

"Then you should know that what we're smelling means that you've found your mate."

Natsu looked at Gajeel in disbelief, thinking that the Iron Dragon has ascended into a new level of pissing him off; he was part confused, part angry.

"What?!"

"Yeah. You found a mate."

 **BEAT**

"Fire Dragon's got a crush on someone! Gihihihi."

Gajeel teased said Fire Dragon relentlessly, surprisingly earning no retaliatory strike from him.

"So that's what you meant..."

 **BEAT**

"Can you just confess to that person already? Just so I don't have to deal with that smell anymore. Get to it already. It's not only my nose that you're affecting."

"Everyone can smell it?!"

Natsu panicked, looking around if anyone other than Gajeel was looking at him funny. He immediately thought of Gray, wondering if he could smell what Gajeel is smelling too.

"No, only dragon slayers. Just not you, obviously."

Natsu calmed down from his panicked state with the statement, and Gajeel got up from the table then proceeded to walk away.

"Hey. Thanks, I guess.."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

 _I found my mate, and the other dragon slayers can smell it?_

 _I found my mate? I found my mate?! **I FOUND MY MATE?!**_

The words constantly repeated in Natsu's head, leaving his oh-so delicious food to turn cold right in front of him, though he could just re-heat it later.

Interestingly, a guild brawl started out of nowhere, and they were hell-bent on wrecking the place.

"Some of the guild people made a bet about the visitor being a girl or a guy, and it went south, obviously."

Lucy said as she sat down on a seat adjacent to Natsu's, who was still spacing out on the words in his head. Lucy groaned due to the lack of response and got up and out of the guild hall.

* * *

 **SOMETIME LATER...**

Makarov and Erza approached the doors of Fairy Tail's guild hall with the visitor in tow. Unbeknownst to them is the guild-wide brawl going on inside. Makarov wore a look of pride, and as Erza opened the door, Makarov motioned for the visitor to go inside.

"Welcome to-!"

A chair flew through the open doors, crashing down onto the pavement and turning into a million pieces. The sounds of chaos soon filled Makarov's ears.

"-Fairy Tail..."

Makarov's expression of pride soon turned into anger, his magic starting to radiate off him. The rowdy guild members immediately sensed the immense magic power coming from the entrance, which resulted in all of them shutting up and stopping dead in their tracks.

 **"BRAAATS!"**

* * *

 **Improvements? Suggestions? Reactions? Leave your thoughts here, aye? Thanks!**


	2. An Expected Guest

**GENERAL POV**

 **FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL**

"The fact stands that it wasn't Natsu and Gray that started this brawl. That very fact heavily disappoints me."

Makarov spoke in front of the Fairy Tail crowd, a scowl on his face. He continued to chastise the instigators, going on and on about how disappointed he is, while estimating the damages done.

"Sooo, where's the visitor?"

Lucy asked Makarov as she looked around her surroundings, not finding a foreign face in the mess of Fairy Tail mages.

"I had Erza escort him to his quarters. I wouldn't want him to see our guild in this state of anarchy."

"Him?"

"Yes. Our visitor is a male. I've been informed that this brawl was started due to wagers about the visitor's gender. And no wagers will be paid, got it? You will **ALL** fix the guild hall in twenty-four hours time as punishment, you hear?"

A wave of weary grunts washed throughout the guild hall.

"Yea gramps..."

"Ughh..."

"Good. He'll be visiting us tomorrow instead, so you brats better start repairing NOW."

 **"YES SIR!"**

* * *

 **SOMEWHERE IN CENTRAL MAGNOLIA...**

Natsu and Happy were wandering around Central Magnolia to pass the time. No one was allowed to go on missions until the visitor arrived at Fairy Tail, so they were left to do absolutely nothing. Currently, the duo were walking along a boulevard laden with Magnolias and restaurants to the side. Interestingly, Natsu wasn't fixated on food at the moment, having a certain icy person on his mind.

"Hey Natsu! There's a nice ramen shop down the road over there! Wanna check it out?"

"Maybe... maybe not."

Natsu looked dazed as he walked along the boulevard. Happy shot him a confused look in response to his reply, then he went up in front of Natsu and extended his left paw, signalling Natsu to stop.

"The Natsu I know would be fired up at the mention of food. What did you do to him, you doppelganger?"

"I'm not a doppelganger, Happy. I just have a lot of stuff on my mind..."

"Like what?"

Natsu's eyes widened at the question. He thought of just telling Happy right there and then on how confused he's feeling around Gray, but he thought that the Exceed might just laugh, so he forcibly switched the topic instead to escape.

"Well, uhh... **HEY LET'S CHECK OUT THAT RAMEN SHOP NOW!"**

Natsu ran off in the direction of the ramen shop, leaving a confused Happy in his wake.

"Aye, sir?"

* * *

The duo went and stayed at the ramen shop for a number of hours, eating up whatever they could order. Once they're finally content, they asked for the bill. Natsu ate up the remainder of his ramen, and slammed the bowl down to the table, surprisingly not breaking it. Happy simply laid down on the table.

"Oh man, that was really good!"

"Told ya it was worth checking out."

"Soooo, now I gotta pay up, and I got..."

Natsu brought out a feeble amount of money from his pockets.

"One-hundred Jewel..."

Natsu grimaced at the amount of money he has. With a slightly horrified look on his face, he turned to Happy.

"Happy... what does the bill say?"

"Two-thousand Jewel!"

Happy chirped, which didn't help to lessen Natsu's anxiety; it only made it worse.

 **"HAPPY. I HAVE NO MORE MONEY LEFT."**

"You ordered a lot, Natsu. I only had the fish ramen."

 **"GET LUCY. SOMEBODY WITH MONEY. QUICK."**

Happy playfully looked around the ramen shop's window, spotting Gray in a cafe just across the street, who was playing around with his iced coffee. Gray never splurged his money in one go, so he became a potential "savior" for Natsu.

"I can see Gray on that cafe across the street. I could ask him?"

"No! Anyone but him!"

"Why, Natsu? Too stubborn to swallow your pride?"

"N-no! It's just..."

Natsu constantly stuttered, and the thoughts about Gray he was having was making him blush uncontrollably. Happy took immediate notice.

"Natsu? Your entire face is red!"

"I-I, uhh..."

"Hmmm I've seen that look before..."

"What?"

Happy appeared to be deep in thought, then his eyes suddenly widened and he covered his mouth with his paws, puzzling Natsu with his antics. Happy started to snicker.

"Oooooohhhh Natsu you liiiiiike Graaaay?"

"W-what?! N-no! Never!"

"Your face is redder now, Natsu! You do liiiiiike hiiiiim!"

Natsu was now feeling the heat in his cheeks, embarrassing him and prompting him to cover his face, thinking someone might see him like that. Defeated, he answered Happy.

"Okay. Fine. I... think I like him, but that's it. I'm just confused..."

"You coulda told me, Natsu. I'm your best buddy and ya know it!"

Natsu uncovered his face, only a slight blush remaining on it. Happy flew and plopped down on his head.

"I'm just kinda... **REALLY** surprised that it's a guy you like! And Gray!"

"Heheh. Suprise?"

"Mmhmm. It's a big surprise to me."

Natsu grabbed Happy from his head and hugged him tightly, slightly annoying yet making Happy happy. The exceed released himself from Natsu's clutches and went for the ramen shop's door.

"I'm gonna go ask Gray **VEEERY** politely for some money."

"Fine... Thanks little buddy. But don't you dare tell him **THAT.** Or no more fish for you."

"Hihihi okay! Hang tight, Natsu!"

* * *

Gray, being loaded with Jewel at the moment, reluctantly agreed to bust out Natsu since the blue exceed gave him the most irresistible puppy-dog eyes (For a cat) he's ever seen. Now they were walking along the boulevard.

"Thanks for busting me outta there."

"If you're gonna order that much, back it up with your **OWN** money next time."

"Okaaay. I get it."

Gray stared at Natsu suspiciously, noting that something was off with the dragon slayer, such as his grateful attitude, the slight blush on his face...

"Now that I 'busted' you out of there, you owe me."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll give you some Jewel next ti-"

Gray grabbed Natsu's shoulders, and he spun Natsu to face him, which cut the dragon slayer off from his speech.

"I want answers, Natsu. Why did you do that?"

"Huh? Do what?"

"Earlier. You were like, cuddling me."

Natsu's face immediately turned red, then he looked to his side out of embarassment.

"O-oh t-that... N-no particular reason w-whatsoever!"

"You're stuttering and red as a socialist, fire brain. Spill it."

Gray tried to stare down Natsu as said dragon slayer tried to be rid of Gray's clutches to no avail as the ice mage firmly kept his hands on the dragon slayer's shoulders, effectively pinning him.

"I just wanted to feel how cuddling would be?"

Natsu gave out a forced laugh accompanied by a forced grin; Gray wasn't buying it.

"Really? Cuddling? On me?"

"Y-yeah! I didn't want to waste an opportunity!"

 **BEAT**

"I'm not buying it, ash-for-brains. Tell me now."

Gray shook the Natsu for answers, but not enough for Natsu to get sick. Natsu tried to shove Gray away from him but the ice mage was really determined for answers; his hands stuck to Natsu's shoulders like Juvia's hands on Gray.

"Just let it go dammit! I'll pay you if I have to! I snatched this job flyer with a forty-thousand Jewel reward! I'll give you half of it!"

"Hmm..."

 _Money, huh? But there are some answers that can't be bought with money..._

"Nah. Tell me."

Natsu's face reddened once due to the words that came out of his mouth. That, and Gray's nearing proximity towards his face; not enough for a kiss, but enough for a set of eyes to bore holes into another's very soul.

"I.. Like I said, I've never cuddled before. It felt nice cuddling with you, heheh..."

Gray's facial expression changed from "boring into your soul" to suspicion with a hint of curiousity, notably his arched eyebrow. Natsu took it as a sign of doom.

 _ **OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT THAT CAME OUT WRONG! SHIT!**_

"Natsu, are you gay?"

The words came out of Gray's mouth so calm and collected, Natsu couldn't tell if he was asking because it's a joke waiting to happen or if he was serious. Natsu could smell the curiousity from Gray, though, but he didn't know if it was a risk worth taking. Natsu thinks he's gay for Gray, but telling him outright sounds like a bad idea.

 _A subtle hint should do... not that I am but.. **OH FINE.**_

"I think so? I just wanted to feel how cuddling with a guy would be.."

Natsu's cheeks turned into the reddest shade possible, along with his voice turning fainter and restrained, which kind of amused Gray at the dragon slayer's display of vulnerability and at the same time he felt sorry for the flame-brain.

"Why me?"

Gray asked Natsu in a compassionate tone of voice, along with placing a hand on one of Natsu's shoulders, making the dragon slayer look up to Gray's eyes.

"Because I can trust you.."

Natsu looked away in shame, then Gray patted Natsu's back.

"Hmph. And you can, fire breath. Don't worry."

With those words, Natsu went from downtrodden to ridiculously ecstatic, his signature grin suddenly morphing on his face.

 **"THANKS ICE PRINCESS!"**

Natsu caught Gray in a bone-crushing hug, startling the ice mage. Natsu hugged him tightly, clutching at Gray's upper torso while taking in his icy scent. Gray didn't shove him off, but reciprocated the hug instead, although very lightly.

 _There's no escaping from this one now, but I don't have to tell him..._

 _I gotta get rid of these thoughts about Gray.. maybe even tell him that this whole 'gay' thing was just a big joke, and everything will be back to normal! Right?_

"Ouch..."

Natsu then realized that he was hugging Gray way too tightly. He released Gray from his "death hug" and gave him a small smile, weirding said ice mage out. Overjoyed, Natsu had built up a lot of energy, and he wanted to release it by fighting with Gray. Natsu assumed battle stance immediately, making Gray sigh at the sight; the ice mage wasn't in the mood to fight.

"We can still fight, right?"

"Just not now, Natsu."

"Whyyyyyyy? I'm all fired up now!"

Natsu whined at Gray, and continuosly pestered him for a sparring session, until Natsu's nose picked up a foreign scent which made the dragon slayer sniff all over the place. Natsu ran towards the source of the scent with Gray following behind in case the dragon slayer does something he'll regret later.

"You smell something?"

"Not something. A dragon slayer... and not from here either..."

The duo ran for a few city blocks, then they stopped after a few more blocks, and out of curiousity, Gray wanted to know how the scent smelled like. Natsu continued sniffing.

"What does the guy smell like?"

"Uhh.. cold? Kinda minty. Like your scent, but with a dragon slayer's too."

"So I smell of cold stuff. Wow."

"You're an ice mage, so it makes sense!"

Happy interjected from the side, annoying Gray.

"Can it, cat."

Happy giggled, mostly because of what he knows about Natsu's views on Gray. The ice mage squinted at the exceed, who did more antics to annoy said ice mage. Natsu continuosly looked for the scent's location, oblivious to a certain ice mage who happened to be spamming ice lances at a constantly dodging and snickering exceed.

"I think it's that guy."

Gray stopped spamming ice lances at Happy. Natsu then pointed at a figure sitting on the seaside railings.

The figure appeared to be a guy with really fair but not albino skin, a very youthful face similar to Leo's but with rounded eyes, red irises, a scar on his right eye, and spiky silver hair.

The guy also wore black combat boots, black cargo pants with dark grey knee padding laced with red line accents, a weird necklace of a bullet and a piece of ice, a metallic grey sleeveless vest with red lines along its edges, along with light colored fur lining the collar and the arm holes; said vest was left unbuttoned, much like Natsu's, which exposed his fit chest and abs, along with a large line of a scar that went from his chest to the upper part of his abdomen.

His muscled arms bore numerous mini-scars, padding on his left shoulder, a watch on his left hand, and a bracelet on his right hand. Natsu stared at the guy, unaware that Gray was giving him teasing looks.

"Oh ho ho. Interested, are we Natsu?"

"S-shut up! Let's just go to him. I just wanna meet another dragon slayer!"

"If you say so~."

The duo and exceed then cautiously approached the supposed dragon slayer, and as they got closer, they saw a bolt-action rifle and a pair of swords leaning on the railings, a holstered pistol on his belt, and an exceed figure in front of him; they appeared to be chatting. Natsu was able to pick up some snippets thanks to his dragon slayer hearing.

 _No, my little comrade. Everything is cool._

 _Was that a pun?_

 _Oh.. was it? Eheheh.._

 _They're just people, not the enemy kind. You'll be fine!_

 _Uhh, I don't know..._

 _I'm just gonna go get some snacks. I'll be back, kay?_

The exceed, which happened to be silver colored and donned a red vest and dark grey pants, flew off to the direction of the markets. Natsu, Gray, and Happy sneaked towards the guy, unaware of their presence since he just looked at the coast while leaning on the railing. Then, in an instant, the guy spun to face the "sneaky-sneaky" trio.

"Who are you? What is your business?"

"Oh uh. I just smelled you and-"

"I am not looking for any trouble! So please leave me be! And no, I am **NOT** a male prostitute."

The guy burst out as he went into a defensive stance, hinting at the numerous people that "propositioned" to him for some "easy Jewel"; said people, mostly young men and Leo, appeared to be down below the railings, encased in ice. Natsu and Gray went wide-eyed at the outburst, while Happy tried not to laugh.

Your getup says otherwise... kinda ironic for me too.

"Huh? No! All I'm saying is that I smelled a new dragon slayer so I went here!"

"Hmm? Did you say 'smelled'? And dragon slayer?"

The guy eased off, then a curious expression formed on his face at the mention of those words. Natsu immediately went hyper, which made Gray groan at Natsu's "instant happy" trait.

"Yeah and yeah!"

"So, I take it you're a dragon slayer too?"

"Yep! I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer known as the Salamander! And here's my exceed buddy, Happy!"

"Aye! Nice to meet ya!"

The guy bent down to pet Happy, who happened to like it.

"Oh hello. I have an Exceed with me too, but he went to get snacks."

It's like almost every dragon slayer has an exceed. Maybe it's a standard.

Gray thought as he played around with some small ice-make objects that he made out of boredom. Then he interjected on the dragon slayers' conversation, directing a question at the guy.

"Soo, who are you?"

"Umm, I'm not really the kind to just give out my name, but I do go by the title of 'Ice Lion' where I'm from. So just call me that for now."

"Ice... Dragon Slayer? And I'm guessing you're a foreigner with that weird accent you have."

"Mmhmm. Correct."

Ice Lion's nose wrinkled, Natsu thinking that it might be because of the scent Gajeel told him about earlier.

"So uhh, speaking of smells, you smell. The awkward kind, I mean."

Natsu looked at Ice Lion awkardly, and Gray tried to sniff for the smell, finding nothing.

"I don't smell anything. Is that a dragon slayer thing?"

"Yeah. I-uhh..."

Natsu constantly stammered uncontrollably as his face reddened, which prompted Ice Lion to explain to Gray.

"A very strong scent that only dragon slayers can smell. It's mating related, and your pink-haired comrade here seems to have found one; a mate, I mean."

"I don't speak 'dragon slayer', alright?. So what does that mean?"

"He is in love with someone."

Gray's face slowly morphed into a really big grin, then he elbowed Natsu.

"Ooooh! Flame brain's got a crush! And I thought you were too stupid to feel stuff like that!"

 _Yeah, you._

"Shut up."

Natsu said to both his inner voice and Gray, and both of them did stop with their antics. As seriously as he could, he turned to Ice Lion with questions concerning mates.

"Do you know any more about it?"

"Don't ask me about that. It's a.. delicate matter for me, so to speak."

Ice Lion's face turned slightly red and he looked to the side. Natsu didn't press any further.

"Oh umm.. okay."

Ice Lion's communication lacrima buzzed in his pocket, and he brought it out to read its message. After reading its message, he pocketed the device, then he grabbed his rifle, swords, and some duffel bag from out of nowhere.

"I am needed elsewhere now. Goodbye."

Ice Lion ran off as he finished speaking, going towards the same direction his exceed flew off earlier.

"Hey! It was nice meeting ya!"

Natsu waved at Ice Lion's figure. He stopped his waving when Ice Lion was already at a considerable distance. Gray approached Natsu and rested his arm on his shoulder.

"Now, do you still think fire and ice can't be together..."

 _Fire and Ice **CAN** be together! Why do you think I like you?!_

"...as friends?"

"Oh uh.. what?"

"I said do you still believe that fire and ice can't get along? You were being friendly with 'Ice Lion' earlier, and there's us."

 _Us? There's an us?_

"Oi flame brain, quit spacing out on me."

"Sorry. I'm just feeling weird today. But yeah... I'm kinda thinking against that now."

"Good. Cause I'm getting sick of fighting you all the time and I just want a regular relationship without any insults and fists everyday."

 _A relationship... with Gray... my mate..._

"You... want a relationship?"

Natsu looked at Gray with hopeful eyes. Gray elbowed him in response.

"I meant a regular friendship. What did you think I meant by that?"

Natsu's face tinged with a hint of red, embarrased. Gray smirked at the sight.

"Oh."

Gray laughed at Natsu's embarassed state. He then draped an arm over the dragon slayer's shoulders with a playful smirk, making Natsu redden a bit more yet with a pissed expression on his face.

"Come on. Let's get back to the guild hall."

* * *

The trio arrived back at the guild hall, with Happy immediately making her way to Carla, while Natsu went to get food at the bar. Soon after, Gray walked by Natsu and patted him on his shoulder.

"Hey. If you want to talk about it, just tell me, alright?"

Oh sure! Hey, I got a weird crush on you! How's that?

Natsu shooed his inner voice away, and just gave a meek smile at Gray as a reply, who smiled in return as he walked away. Mirajane looked at Natsu with a cutesy demeanour.

"Aww, look at you two! Being all friendly!"

"It's.. no big deal Mira. I guess he's just being nice."

"It's a really big deal, Natsu! We're more likely to find one of Zeref's demons than see you two get along!"

"Mmhmm."

Mira teased the dragon slayer to no end. Nearby, Master Makarov was addressing the "clean-up crew" from earlier's predicament.

"Excellent. The guild hasn't been reduced to rubble right after being repaired. A commendable job."

The clean-up crew sighed in a mix of relief and despair. Not soon after, Erza burst through the guild doors in her usual "shock-and-awe" demeanour.

"There you are, Erza. Is he with you?"

"Of course, Master Makarov."

Erza moved away from the door, holding it open for someone.

"Please enter."

Then a figure stepped inside, a silver haired, fit, and fair skinned male, to be exact who instantly earned stares of recognition. A silver colored exceed followed after him. The guy looked around the interior of the guild hall.

"Your guild hall looks bigger inside..."

Natsu sniffed for the guy's scent, which seemed to confirm his suspicions.

"Hey! You're the guy from earlier!"

The guy, Ice Lion, recognized Natsu's voice and directed his gaze at the Fire Dragon Slayer, his red eyes widening as he immediately recognized the pink hair, and the smell that followed.

"Blin..."

* * *

 **Here's a new chapter! Review if you can! I would like to know your thoughts on this!**

 **BTW, "Blin" is a mild Russian cuss word that translates to "pancake". Dunno why xD**


	3. Ice Lion and the Seven Krais

**This is more on introducing Ice Lion and the place he came from; everything's relevant! Including Natsu's cuddling! xD**

 **Welp, here you go.**

* * *

"Dayum son."

"Is he taken? **IS HE?"**

"Taking 'skin as white as snow' to a whole new level."

"He's a snow elf?" - **"OI! WRONG UNIVERSE!"**

A ridiculous amount of murmurs about Ice Lion flooded the guild hall. Ice Lion tilted his head down, facing the floor and covering a part of his face as he and his silver exceed stood beside Makarov on the guild hall's stage.

"Everybody. Calm down."

Makarov instructed the rowdy crowd from the stage's podium to no end.

 **"NOW."**

Makarov repeated in a shout, along with a deathly amount of magic energy radiating from him. The guild hall was now as quiet as a graveyard.

"Good. Now, we would like to properly introduce our guest. He came all this way from the cold north to help us investigate this weather, and I would definitely appreciate it if you'll make him feel right at home here at Fairy Tail."

"Definitely!"

"Of course, gramps!"

"Alright. Now I'll turn over the podium to him."

Makarov then moved away from the podium, motioning for Ice Lion to go to it, which he did.

"Uh, hello. I'll start off with where I am from. I come from a region really up in the north known as Moskovia. It is very isolationist, so I'm not surprised it is not in your maps."

Curious murmurs sounded from the crowd.

"Ah, so something does exist in that area. Are they behind this weather?"

Makarov asked Ice Lion, who responded with an "I dunno" gesture.

"I'm not sure. You see, Moskovia is a huge place, and is divided into six smaller regions known as 'krais'."

Ice Lion then brought out a projector lacrima. Once turned on, the device showed numerous thumbnails of photos.

"I come from the capital krai known as Krepost Krai, and its respective city, Moskovgrad. It's the snowiest and less sunny of all the krais, which is why I'm almost albino-ish. It is a fortress city that is focused on military things."

Ice Lion brought up a picture. The picture showed grey, two floored boxy structures, and boxy tenements, with parked boxy cars on their sides. In the background, a tall, grey tower is seen in the distance along with silhouettes of citizens wearing trenchcoats and fur coats. Only a faint hint of the sun is shown, and everything is covered in snow. The guards of the krai donned full kevlar armor, helmets, gasmasks with red glowing eye sockets, automatic rifles, and are accompanied by a main battle tank.

Curious murmurs sounded from the gathered crowd.

"Interesting. What of the other six 'krais'?"

Makarov asked Ice Lion. He glanced at Makarov while fidgeting with the projector lacrima to work properly.

"Oh. There's Arxium Krai and its city, Aureus; a citadel city full of scholars and rich people."

The next picture showed ornate and grandiose structures of marble with golden decorations. Walking about are its citizens wearing sophisticated, robe-ish clothing in white and gold colors. The city gets enough sun to not get buried in snow. Guards are depicted as wearing either padded light armor in white or sleek heavy armor in white, and they wielded battleaxes.

"Eisbereich Krai and its city, Stahlburg; the place of Moskovia's best metalworkers and engineers."

The picture of the city showed that the city was divided into two sections. The metalworking area of blacksmiths and the factories are all on the west side. The other section in the east showed buildings in basque architecture, presumably the section for engineers. The citizens of the west side are all covered in soot from their smithing, while the citizens of the east side donned longcoats and top hats. The streets are covered in boxy looking automobiles. It seems to be getting enough sun. Its guards are shown as wearing military uniforms with boots and a steel helmet and are wielding bolt-action rifles.

"Iiz-Vahlok Krai and the city of Kruziikkrah; it's the oldest city in the region, and is a haven for mages. The Ancient Ice Spire in the city is a tourist spot."

The picture showed numerous wooden and stone structures of gothic architecture, all with intricate patterns. Around the buildings are its citizens, either walking about in common winter garb or on horses. The Ancient Ice Spire is in the middle of a snow-covered court, in front of a palace of sorts. Only a faint amount of sun gets to the city, but more than Moskovgrad. Its guards are either the horned helmet and heavy armor with shields and swords type or are leather-clad mages specializing in destructive magic.

"Yukiheiya Krai and the city of Shimoyama; it's built beside a mountain where they mine for these special ice crystals that's used for their hi-tech gizmos."

The picture showed numerous hi-rise buildings with glass facades on the lower portions of the city, and mid-rise buildings on the upper portions as they ascend on the mountainside. The mountain itself is rather tall, rivalling many of the city's hi-rise buildings. On the base of the mountain, numerous mines operate, being manned entirely by robots. The citizens are dressed in stuffy, streamlined clothing with numerous glowing gizmos attached to them. The city gets enough snow and enough sun to not get buried in both. The guards donned hi-tech, streamlined samurai-like armor with katanas and laser rifles.

"And the last one, Clara Cielo Krai and its city of El Sol; the only city in the region without snow since those people practice some kind of sun magic, and it's closer to the equator. Great tourist spot too."

The picture showed numerous white-walled, three-story row houses with brick shingled roofs and second-floor balconies connected together. A statue of the sun can be seen in a plaza in the middle of the picture along with a coastline dotted by beaches in the background. The citizens dressed in casual clothing, since it's the only city with no snow in the region. Guards dressed in sky blue coats with triangular hats and white trousers, and they wielded muskets that fire lethal sunlight.

"There was actually a seventh city in our region called Nasumpa in the former region of Bayan Krai, which was split between Yukiheiya and Clara Cielo following its dissolution. All of its citizens suddenly crystallized into ice, and no one wanted to resettle the place, thinking its cursed. So now it remains abandoned."

The last picture showed an eerie landscape with a mountain dotted by structures carved into the it. The entire city was buried in snow, and numerous frozen figures can be seen all over the streets, along with their frozen horses and cars. The figures appeared to be in motion until they were suddenly frozen by something. A sun statue like the one on El Sol can be seen in the background, along with a frozen coastline. The city received no sunlight at all, being literally shrouded by dark clouds. A frozen figure of what looks like a guard donning a conical helmet and metallic body armor can be seen beside the sun statue, aiming at the sky with a rifle, along with a frozen mage beside it.

"Our cartographers should get to documenting that region of yours right away. Lots of discoveries to behold, especially that new Sun Magic and technology."

Makarov said to Ice Lion. He nodded accordingly to Makarov as he put away the projector lacrima.

"If, by a big chance, the source is in Moskovia, we'll have to ask your guild to form a task force to help us take it down."

Ice Lion said to the crowd, which was followed by cheers afterwards.

"Count me in! Those bad guy snow elves don't stand a chance!"

"Kicking ass in new lands! Sign me up!"

Makarov gestured to the crowd to shush, which they did immediately. Ice Lion cleared his throat.

"Now, concerning me. My real name is Lev Morozov, 'Lion of Ice', or 'Lion of Frost', hence my codename. I am a part of one of Moskovgrad's top guilds, Zmey's Star. Right here is my exceed comrade, Sasha."

"Yo!"

Sasha saluted to the crowd, who did gestures of their own back to the silver exceed. Some people whistled at Lev, making him uncomfortable.

"And also, our guild sent representatives to some of the other major guilds in Fiore. So please, don't be alarmed if you see them. Oh, and I am an Ice Dragon Slayer, second generation."

Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayers, except Natsu, and the rest of the guild looked at him in surprise.

"Now concerning your snow problem, we can build a repellant lacrima here in Fiore to redirect this weather elsewhere for now until we can find the cause. And the authorities back in Moskovia have been notified and are looking for whatever is causing this weather."

Lev finished as he got distracted by his communication lacrima. The crowd cheered, knowing that their early winter could be redirected.

"Good. I could use some heat."

"Why not have Natsu just burn the place up instead? Hehe." - "Idiot."

Lev looked at the crowd, busy clamoring among themselves.

"I guess that is all for me. I should get to work."

He said to himself, then he stepped off the podium and went towards a door on the side. Makarov took over the podium, and with one tap, a force shook the guild hall which told the crowd to shut up.

"Remember this, brats. No collateral damage, no inappropriate actions towards our guest, and most of all, make him feel right at home. Got it?"

"Yeah!"

The crowd cheered in approval, then Makarov grinned evilly.

"Otherwise, everyone will be a part of 'The Punishment Game'."

Makarov said as his eyes glowed and a dark energy radiated off him.

"Yesyesyesofcoursegramps!"

The crowd said in unison. The old man's evil look wore off afterwards.

"Good. Every day, there will be an assigned team that will take Lev with him to conduct research and take samples from the local area. For tomorrow, he'll be going with Gajeel and Pantherlily."

"What?! Why me?!"

The Iron Dragon Slayer whined, punching a table. Makarov just gave him a side glance.

"Because I said so. He won't take part in your mission, he'll simply be examining the area around the mission."

"Hmph. Fine. Pretty boy better not get in my way."

Gajeel said back, and settled back to his seat. The crowd went back to clamoring again, making Makarov sigh.

"Now, that's it. Back to whatever it is you were doing."

Makarov stepped off the podium and went to his office, seeing that Lev was occupied with Natsu.

"Why didn't you tell us you're Fairy Tail's visitor?"

"I just had a name, no guild mark or anything."

"Oh."

Lev sniffed the air again, making Natsu redden a bit.

"And it seems you have not taken care of your 'smell' yet."

"H-hey! Quit bringing that up!"

"Sorry. It just bothers my nose too much."

Lev sniffled due to the bothersome smell. Shortly afterward, Pantherlily got on a table to get to Lev's eye contact level. Gajeel wearily followed behind the black exceed.

"Since you'll be going with us, mind if we converse with you for a while?"

"Oh, another exceed. Sure, I guess."

Gajeel then went to murmuring distance with Lev.

"You don't want to be around him and the stripper. They always fight and destroy everything."

Natsu's ear twitched at hearing Gajeel's comment, but just stalked away instead. Lev shot Gajeel a questioning look.

"I will talk to whoever I want to. Besides, I recall earlier you called me 'pretty boy'?"

"Yeah, I did. So?"

Lev glared at Gajeel. Pantherlily sweat-dropped at the background.

"I am not a pretty boy, got that?"

"Whatever."

Pantherlily went between the two dragon slayers before anything could break out.

"Let's be civil here. Let's go over there."

Pantherlily went to a nearby table, with Gajeel following suit. Lev went to Natsu at his table with Gray, who happened to be resting his head on said ice mage's shoulder.

"I will talk to you two later, okay?"

"Sure! Later man!"

Natsu waved at Lev's retreating figure. Gray poked him at his side afterwards.

"Flame brain, your head's on my shoulder."

"H-huh?!"

Natsu sprung up and away from Gray's shoulder, unaware that his body was getting the better of him, like with the cuddling incident some time ago. His face is red again. Unaware to the two was Mirajane observing them from the bar.

"Look, I don't mind. But you gotta be careful when you do that. I don't want people getting the wrong idea."

You mean, you don't like me?

"S-sorry."

Natsu apologized meekly. Gray gave a concerned look at Natsu, until it turned mischievous.

"You're acting very weird. A good fight should turn you back to normal."

Gray cast some ice at Natsu's back, making the dragon slayer spring up rapidly in response.

"C-cold! What was that for?!"

"Catch me first!"

Gray sprinted out of the guild hall, leaving a confused Natsu in his wake. The dragon slayer regained his senses after a few seconds, his vulnerable look earlier being replaced by a determined one.

"You're on, stripper!"

Natsu ran past Lucy and after Gray, busting through the guild doors. Lucy sighed and gestured "not my job" and walked off.

"Aww, they're so cute, aren't they?"

Mirajane giggled from the bar. Sasha, Lev's exceed, gave a confused look towards her while licking a popsicle.

"Who are they?"

The exceed asked. Mirajane smiled at the cat.

"Oh right. Natsu's the one with pink hair, and Gray's the half-naked one. They normally fight and hate each other but for some reason, they're being awfully friendly to each other right now."

Sasha looked at Lev, who happened to be sitting with Gajeel and Pantherlily. Then he looked outside, through a window, seeing the Fire Dragon Slayer and the Ice-Make mage duking it out at the courtyard.

 _Those two look look like Lev's type.. but they seem to like each other a lot already so..._

"What was that?"

Mirajane said as her face neared Sasha's with a cutesy-creepy look plastered on it.

"Nothing miss! Nothing!"

* * *

"So, snow elf-"

"Do I look like an elf to you? Do I have pointy ears, hmm?"

"Nah. I just felt like riling you up."

"Yeah, don't do that."

Lev and Gajeel stared-off. Pantherlily interjected with a cough.

"How is your guild like? Zmey's Star, correct?"

"Mmhmm. Our guild is.. alright, I guess. There's only a handful of people that I know there, and they're my only friends. The guild, in general, appears brash at first, but it's just 'tough love' as they say; everyone supports everyone, and it's no dictatorship, but it's not exactly the welcoming type like your guild. And here's my guild mark."

Lev moved aside the right part of his vest up, showing the guild mark on his right pectoral; his guild mark is a white star with a draconic figure encircling its top, left, and right portions.

"So that thing around the star is this 'zmey'?"

Pantherlily inquired, examining the symbol.

"Yeah. It's like a dragon, but it's not."

 _Great explanation, Lev. Blin._

Pantherlily gave Lev a blank stare in response. Gajeel squinted at Lev.

"Figured you'd be like stripper, placing your guild mark on the same place as him."

"What is your major malfunction, piercings?"

Lev glared at Gajeel, who glared back. Pantherlily face-palmed.

"What d'you call me?!"

"Piercings. P-I-E-R-C-I-N-G-S. Piercings!"

"Stop it, you two! Let's be civil here. Gajeel, stop angering him."

The two reluctantly halted their glaring "contest" for Pantherlily's sake.

"Ghh. Fine."

"You are too irritating to converse with. I shall talk with Pantherlily instead."

"Whatever."

Leo walked in on Lev as he was about to talk to Pantherlily. Leo rested a hand on Lev's shoulder, to the latter's irritance.

"Heeey, what are you doing here? Guy like you should get pampered somewhere else~."

Leo cooed at Lev, speaking near his ear. Lev spun around to meet the Zodiac Spirit's gaze, Leo's flirtatious stare meeting Lev's very irritated one.

"King of the Zodiac or not, I am still not interested in your proposition earlier."

"Aww c'mon! It'll be fun~."

"Would you like me to freeze you again?"

"Can it, pretty boy."

Gajeel said to Lev, though the message got to Leo also, to the Iron Dragon Slayer's dismay.

"Me or him?"

The two lions said in unison while pointing at themselves and stared at Gajeel, who got tired of their shit.

"Ughh nevermind."

* * *

After only a few minutes of duking it out, Natsu was suddenly latching onto Gray again, nuzzling at the ice mage's bare chest while the two of them are lying down on the snowy grass. Gray just sighed in defeat. They were in a secluded-ish part of the guild hall grounds, so they didn't have to worry about anyone walking in on them, save for a random dragon slayer perhaps.

"Do you have a 'cuddle deficiency syndrome' or something?"

"You said you don't mind. And you did say earlier that you'll help me as soon as this dragon slayer problem of mine is over."

 _That's gonna take a really long while._

"I did, but everyday?!"

"Yep."

Natsu squeezed Gray in an even tighter hug. Gray grunted due to the sudden pressure.

"Just not in public, okay?"

"Why not?"

"What do you think, Natsu? People will get the wrong idea!"

Natsu released Gray from his hug, although smiling. Gray simply let out a flat look towards Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer got up and extended a hand for the ice mage, signalling him to get up as well.

"Ya know, Mirajane is getting suspicious with our friendliness already. You think it's the snow?"

Natsu said to Gray as he helped him up. The ice mage scooped up some snow from the ground and examined it.

"For you, maybe. Did you eat any of it?"

"Screw you."

 _Oh yeah!_

"W-what?! No!"

Gray looked at Natsu awkwardly, then back to the snow on his hands, then back to Natsu, and again back to the snow. Gray flung the loose snow to Natsu's face, laughing.

"I think you did eat the snow. I'm taking you to Porlyusica."

"I'm fine! I swear! Look, if you're doing this out of pity and you don't really like doing this, well you can just back off from it."

Natsu yelped, then a small stream of tears soon followed. Gray hugged the dragon slayer out of his own volition while ruffling his pink locks.

"I'm not doing this out of pity, ash-for-brains. As stupid as it might sound, I do care about you, alright?"

Natsu's mood turned a full three-sixty degrees, going from sad to "instant happy".

"You sound really sappy right now."

"I'm gonna repeat that until that gets inside that thick head of yours."

"Then repeat it. Again and again and-"

"Che."

Natsu let out a light laugh, followed by Gray playfully punching his arm. Natsu hugged Gray again, the ice mage rolling his eyes at the dragon slayer's sudden need.

 _At this rate, flame brain will hug the life out of me._

 _Might be the mates crap. Could it be me? I'll find out, one way or another._

 _Soon._

"Why don't you go ask Lev for some cuddles too? Who knows, he might let you~."

"Shut up."

* * *

 **If you're interested in getting a more-or-less (If you know what these references are anyway), visual idea of how the places and guards are like, see here; just felt like it. I'd recommend going to this fic's AO3 page since it contains hyperlinks.**

 **MOSKOVGRAD - Real-Life Soviet structures**

 **Krepost Guards - Company of Heroes 2 Soviet Conscripts, Black Mesa HECU Marines**

 **AUREUS - Warframe Orokin (styled) structures**

 **Arxium Guards - Skyrim Ancient Falmer Armor, Skyrim Elven Light Armor**

 **STAHLBURG - Civilization VI Industrial Era City/Real-Life Baroque architecture hybrid**

 **Eisbereich Guards - Company of Heroes 2 Oberkommando Volksgrenadiers**

 **KRUZIIKKRAH - Skyrim Whiterun/Solitude hybrid**

 **Iil-Vahlok Guards - Skyrim Ancient Nord Armor, Skyrim Winterhold Guard**

 **SHIMOYAMA - Civilization V Asian City**

 **Yukiheiya Guards - C &C Red Alert 3 Rising Sun Imperial Warrior **

**EL SOL - Just Cause 3 Medici town buildings**

 **Clara Cielo Guards - Assassins Creed Black Flag "Yellowcoats"**

 **NASUMPA - Real-Life typical concrete buildings/Skyrim Markarth buildings hybrid**

 **Bayan Guards - Fallout 4 Sturdy Combat Armor/Real-Life Philippine Katipunero hybrid**

* * *

 **Oh, and I've always thought of Ice Lion/Lev having the voice of Company of Heroes 2's Soviet Conscript. Dunno why, but it seems kinda fitting for me.**

 **Why give a lot of details about those places? SoonTM**

 **Sooo, that's it! Thanks for reading so far! And I hope these things piqued your interest! (More or less)**


	4. From Moskovia with Love

**I would like to thank everyone supporting my story by reading it then either favoriting it, following it, or both! Really, thanks for showing interest in my work! Now, onto the chapter!**

* * *

 **THE FOLLOWING DAY...**

Natsu was currently visiting Lev at his quarters in Fairy Tail's male dormitory, wanting to get some quality bonding time with the Ice Dragon Slayer. The dorm contained the usual bedroom, kitchen, and study. However, the bedroom was littered with Lev's clothes, bullets, and his twin swords. The study had papers all over the place, and his rifle was dangling over the doorway; at least the bathroom, kitchen, and living room were spared from his untidiness, save for a box in the living room. The dorm's thermostat was also set to a cold temperature, despite the freezing weather outside. Natsu, being a fire mage, simply shrugged the cold off. He chatted with Lev who was doing a lot of simultaneous things in just his pajamas; grey pants and a white tank top. Lev then started packing up for his later mission.

"Going so soon?"

"Mmhmm. Today is the mission with Gajeel and Pantherlily, so I have to prepare."

Natsu asked Lev who was packing some glass canisters, clothing, and a clear drink into his duffel bag. Natsu finally noticed the thermostat on the wall.

"Is it normal for ice mages to have the thermostat set to ten degrees or zero? Even if it's snowing outside?"

"I dunno about other ice mages. But for me, it is energizing."

Lev replied to Natsu. The Ice Dragon Slayer then took off his vest and pants, leaving him only in his black and white-accented boxers. Natsu looked at him in an irritated and "interested" manner.

"And is it normal for ice mages to always strip?"

"I am changing clothes. Should I go on the mission in just my pajamas?"

Natsu gaped at Lev to protest and to slightly stare, but found no winnable argument. He sighed in defeat.

"I'll just leave ya to change."

Natsu left the bedroom and closed the door. As he walked away, he accidentally knocked over the box in the living room, which happened to contain numerous magazines. Natsu immediately went to work placing the magazines back in the box. About three magazines were sent out of the box, and they were all different, save for the unintelligible letters on their covers.

Natsu picked up the first magazine, a black colored one which had a rifle on the front cover.

 _So he's a gun maniac, then._

Natsu thought as he placed the black magazine back into the box. The next one was colored light blue with numerous cold desserts on the cover.

 _An ice mage and cold food. So the stereotypes are true..._

He put away the desserts magazine, then the last magazine piqued his interest.

The magazine was white and the centerfold of the cover is a handsome, blonde, athletic male figure wearing only black cargo pants; said figure posed in a seductive manner that placed emphasis on his abs. Natsu wanted to put the magazine down, but curiosity overtook him.

 _Ah, fuck it. What's this anyway?_

Natsu read through the pages; every page contained a good-looking and fit male Moskovian in a seductive or intriguing pose wearing either revealing, open, or little clothing accompanied by a small box with descriptions that are unintelligible to Natsu.

 _Is this, like, a catalog of Moskovia's sexy guy mages?_

 _Wait.. is this guy Lev?_

Natsu stopped at a page containing a silver-haired male with an innocent-looking face, red eyes, an athletic body, and a guild mark of a star with a dragon-like figure partially encircling it on his right pectoral. Natsu examined the figure and deduced that it was indeed Lev, from his "snow elf" skin, his hair, and his eyes.

 _O-oh! Oh! Uhh okay okay, back you gooo..._

"That's one of Moskovia's monthly magazines."

Sasha whispered to Natsu with a grin on his face. Natsu got startled by the exceed's sudden speech, a slight yelp escaping from his mouth. He recovered shortly afterwards.

"That magazine features Moskovia's most attractive male mages. It's very popular with girls and guys; mostly guys, for some reason. That's the Moskovgrad edition."

The exceed finished with a grin. Natsu just eyed the still grinning exceed for his explanation.

"Don't tell anyone, kay?"

"Tell anyone what?"

Lev stepped out of his bedroom, now wearing his usual vest and pants. His sudden appearance made Natsu quickly jolt up and away from the box.

"Hey! You're done changing!"

"Obviously. Ready to go?"

"Uhh, yeah! Sure!"

Lev went to pet Sasha and gave him a communication lacrima.

"Take care of the place, comrade. I should be back by tomorrow."

"Alright man. Stay safe!"

Natsu momentarily stared at the magazine, then he redirected his gaze to Lev.

 _He has something that could help me! I know it!_

Lev went out of the dorm, going ahead of Natsu. Feeling mischievous and curious, Natsu snatched the Magi magazine off the box, making Sasha snicker yet letting him get away with it.

 _I don't think Lev would mind, hihihi._

 _Wait, why am I getting this?_

* * *

Natsu accompanied Lev to Fairy Tail's guild hall. On the way, Natsu chatted with Lev about many things, such as his time in Fairy Tail, how Fairy Tail treats its members, the missions he took all throughout his time in the guild, and sometimes trying to talk about Lev's personal life, with said person constantly derailing the topic.

 _I wanna ask him about the magazine soon.. The look on his face will be priceless!_

They eventually got to the guild hall, and Natsu immediately noticed Gray looking at the notice board. Natsu lightly blushed at the sight of Gray, but it was short lived as he realized he was already at the guild. As they got inside, Natsu and Lev went to the bar to get breakfast. Lev's breakfast was short-lived as Gajeel and Pantherlily went through the guild doors.

"Oi, snow elf! Let's get going!"

Gajeel yelled at Lev's direction, who squinted at the Iron Dragon Slayer in response to the nickname. Lev got up from the stool and shouldered his duffel bag, then moving to face Natsu, who was busy stuffing immolated food into his mouth.

"Natsu, can I ask for a favor?"

"Whut?" - "What?"

"There is a canister in my study that is meant for my comrade sent to Sabertooth. Could you.. get it to him?"

"Shor! Nho hrob!" - "Sure! No prob!"

"Thank you? Now I should get going-"

Natsu gulped his food down and grabbed Lev's wrist, making the Ice Dragon Slayer jolt in surprise.

"Wait. When you get back, I have stuff to ask ya; dragon slayer stuff."

Lev sighed at Natsu's constant pressing for dragon slayer stuff, growing slightly irritated.

"I told you already, that topic is a very delicate matter-"

"C'mooooon!"

Natsu whined, clutching at Lev's wrist that happened to be getting even paler. Lev grunted defeatedly and just eyed Natsu irritatedly.

"Okay, okay. I will answer your questions when I get back. Now goodbye to you."

Natsu released his grip on the Ice Dragon Slayer with a cheeky grin, then Lev walked towards Gajeel and Pantherlily.

 _Took yer time, pretty-boy-snow-elf._

 _You definitely did not take your time getting here, piercing-laden-svoloch._

 _What?_

 _Hehe, nothiiing._

 _Some civility for a day, please._

Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Lev were about to exit through the guild doors until something suddenly bursted through it. That something happened to be an overly-ecstatic Juvia.

 **"GRAAAAY!"**

Juvia tackled Gray into a very tight hug, sending them to the floor. Gray was clearly irritated and was trying to get Juvia off him to no avail. Lev eyed the spectacle in bewildered amusement as Pantherlily tugged at him to get going.

"Juvia, get off me."

"But Juvia will get cold! Juvia needs Gray's warmth so she won't freeze!"

Juvia went on and on about how she needs Gray in her life. Natsu overheard her constant stream of confessions thanks to his dragon slayer hearing, and a wave of jealousy hit him. Natsu was getting very irritated with every confession Juvia let out to Gray, who wasn't buying it.

Having heard enough, Natsu bolted from his seat and stomped towards the two, Juvia still latching onto Gray like her lifeline. The ice mage clearly wasn't happy with it. Natsu stopped right in front of the two, a pissed-off expression on his face.

"Get off Gray."

Natsu demanded to Juvia, who scoffed back.

"Natsu is in no place to tell Juvia what to do. Juvia listens only to herself and Gray."

Juvia spat at Natsu. Angered by the response, Natsu's pupils dilated, then a sudden heat radiated off from him, which turned into a flurry of flames that encompassed his entire figure.

 **"Get. Off. Gray."**

Natsu snarled at Juvia. His actions got the attention of the guild in a surprised and confused manner. Shocked and slightly terrified by the sudden show of anger and magic power, Juvia got up and backed off from Gray and Natsu. Shortly after Juvia backed off, Natsu grabbed Gray by his hand and hoisted him up, then he dragged the ice mage off to a less active part of the guild hall.

"That was weird. Very weird."

Levy said to Lucy as they observed the retreating "couple". Lucy acknowledged with an "I know, right?" gesture.

"You think that's still our Natsu? I mean, he normally doesn't go and help Gray out of those situations, let alone get angry about it."

Lucy said to Levy as she took sips from her drink. Levy gave an "I dunno" gesture as a response.

"Those two look cute together, don't you think?"

Mirajane interjected at the two's conversation with a smile. Lucy and Levy responded to her with awkard expressions.

"Eeeeh?"

* * *

Natsu and Gray went to the pool area of the guild since no one was around the area, and that the freezing temperatures didn't bother them.

"What was that for? And why are we here?"

Gray asked Natsu, slightly irritated. Natsu just beamed at him.

"You looked like ya needed help, so I helped ya out."

"But did you have to get that pissed-off about it? You normally get to that level when someone tries to kill a friend.."

Gray said to Natsu as he began thinking of the reasons the Fire Dragon Slayer would do such a thing. Natsu stared confusedly at Gray's "thinking mode" face.

"Ohhh, are you getting jealous, Natsu? Jealous that someone else is hugging me?"

Natsu's expression warped from confused to flushed and mildly terrified; terrified into thinking that Gray already had him figured out.

"Her hugs are the 'desperate for love' type, and you know I'm not buying her crap. Your hugs are the 'gay curiousities' type. Unless..."

Natsu started cold sweating.

"Natsu, do you like me?"

Natsu's eyes moved to meet Gray's, but his previous expression was still fixed into place.

 _YESYESYES! YES I LIKE YOU!_

 _..._

 _No, I might scare him off. Besides, he's just letting me hug him because he cares, not because he likes me too.._

 _Weird. Why does he care now? I actually think he cares too much._

 _Anyway, I need another reason... something sappy should work on the ice dick._

Natsu finally snapped out of his quick stupor and countered Gray's statement.

"No! Look, I just feel happy and comfortable when hugging you, but that's because I really trust you!"

"I don't.. like you! But I really value you as a friend, okay?!"

Natsu breathed in and out to relax himself.

"There, does that answer your question?"

Gray grinned, then he clutched at his stomach and was outright laughing. Natsu stared at him in confusion.

"Jeez, flame brain. I was just messing with you!"

 **BEAT**

 **"YOU JERK! YOU ICE DICK! YOU...!"**

* * *

After what seemed to be a long time of Natsu chasing Gray while calling him innumerable profanities, Gray called for a truce, which Natsu reluctantly accepted.

Now, they were currently making their way to Sabertooth to deliver Lev's canister to his colleague there. Natsu made Gray tag along as a sort of "punishment", and Happy volunteered to act as a "barrier" between the two. Natsu was all pouts throughout the trip.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, fire breath. Forgive me?"

"Maybe."

"It was just a joke, flame brain. A joke!"

"Don't joke about feelings, idiot. That can destroy people."

"Jeez, Natsu. Why so serious?"

They continued to make the trip in silence, with Gray wondering why Natsu got really affected by his "joke", and with Happy silently snickering behind the two because of the information that he knows.

* * *

Nearing midnight was when they were able to finally see Sabertooth's guild hall in the distant horizon. They previously stopped at some restaurants to eat and rest, with Gray paying the bills since Natsu was still dirt poor. They walked through desolate, lamp-lit streets with only the sounds of their walking driving away the silence.

"Sabertooth should be just up ahead-"

About three figures covered by the shadows of night suddenly emerged from an alleyway. Two of them donned brown hooded longcoats, boots, gauntlets, and masks that obscured their mouth and nose, while the one in front wore a black longcoat and a balaclava along with their usual garments. The guy up front pointed at Natsu.

"The canister, hand it over this instant."

The guy demanded in a threatening tone. Natsu glared at him in return.

"Why should I?"

"Because if you don't, people will die. You two included."

The guy's goons brought up their magic staves, readying them for casting. The guy himself brought out a suppressed pistol and aimed at Natsu.

"Wanna take care of these idiots?"

Gray said as he went to his Ice-Make stance. Natsu immolated his fists accordingly. Happy went ahead to get damage control.

"Hell yeah! I'm fired up now!"

The two went to their respective battle stances. The guy simply shrugged off their display of fearlessness.

"You have just dug your graves, fools."

The guy's two goons rushed at Natsu and Gray, with one goon summoning fireballs from his staff towards Gray, while the other summoned ice spikes towards Natsu. Natsu and Gray effortlessly dodged the slow-moving particles and initiated melee combat with the goons, who happened to be proficient in using their staves not just as magic tools, but as weapons as well, blocking their attacks with them.

Natsu went after the fireball staff goon, throwing punches and kicks at the goon who blocked them all with his staff. Natsu took a blow from the staff, which sent him a few feet backwards. The goon sent fireballs towards Natsu, which he immediately ate, startling the goon. Given an opening, Natsu placed a kick towards the goon's face, sending him flying and crashing towards a kiosk, crushing it and knocking him out.

Simultaneously, Gray was dealing with the ice spike goon, who preferred summoning said spikes over getting physical. Gray dodged every spike he could, and sent Ice Lances towards spikes he couldn't. The goon's staff absorbed Gray's Ice Lances whenever it hit, prompting Gray to go up close and personal by Ice-Making Ice Excalibur. Noticing the change of tactics, the goon sent more flurries of spikes towards Gray, which he blocked with Ice Excalibur. Swooping in with the greatsword, the goon attempted to block it, but it hit him in the stomach instead of the staff, sending him crashing towards a lampost, knocking him out.

"That all ya got?"

Natsu said victoriously as his fists burned brighter. Gray smirked in triumph. The last guy looked unfazed by Natsu and Gray's victory, looking bored.

"So, you dealt with them. Boohoo. Whatever, I'll give you a real fight!"

The guy's gauntlets started to emit a dark grey light, and he swooped inbetween Gray and Natsu, sending the two flying away in opposite directions.

Unfazed, Natsu and Gray went to attack the guy. Natsu tried Fire Dragon Iron Fist on him, but the dark grey light was actually a magic-repellant shield, sending Natsu flying back again with the force equal to his Fire Dragon Iron Fist. Gray sent Ice Lances towards the guy, but they dissipated when they made contact with the light. The guy smirked, irritating Gray.

Gray sent more Ice Lances towards the guy in all directions while Natsu used Fire Dragon Roar on him from the front. Unaffected thanks to his magic-repellant shield gauntlets, the guy landed a punch on Natsu's face, who just shrugged it off. Natsu then tripped the guy and kicked him towards the horizon. In an exposed, flying state, Gray sent forth a huge Ice Lance towards the guy, hitting him dead-on. The guy crashed at another kiosk, then he rose up, blood flowing from his head and lips, and with a psychotic grin to boot. The guy's gauntlet broke from the impact.

The guy brought out his pistol and a dagger and he started shooting at Natsu as he dashed for Gray. Natsu's dragon skin repelled the low caliber bullets of the guy's pistol, and sent a flaming fist towards the guy, which he ducked from and continued to dash for Gray, who he started slashing at once in range. Gray dodged his slash attacks and kicked his leg, unbalancing him. Then Gray ducked from the dagger and sent a fist towards the guy's stomach, immobilizing and making him cough up blood. Gray sent another kick the guy's way which sent him to the ground.

The guy groggily got up, and with an even more psychotic look and higher pitched voice, wiped the blood off his mouth.

"Alright, scheissköpfe! Playtime is over!"

"Containment: Stahlkugel!"

Transparent, metallic spheres suddenly formed around Natsu and Gray which suspended them in mid-air. Natsu tried punching his sphere, which caused no damage. Gray also kicked his sphere, which did also nothing.

"Hey! What the heck are you doing?! What the heck is this shit?!"

Natsu yelled at the guy as he and Gray continuosly punched and kicked at the spheres to no avail. They also tried casting their magic inside the spheres but it nullified their magic, frustrating them both. The guy cackled at the mages' efforts.

"Oh, me?! Just doing my job. As for this..."

Blue sparks suddenly emitted inside the sphere, constantly attacking Natsu and Gray with a steady stream of magic-draining and scorching electricity. The two screamed as the painful sparks attacked their entire bodies, with one spark even opening Gray's hip scar, making him release a blood-curdling scream.

"My magic. That's all you need to know."

The guy watched in amusement as the two mages suffered. The spheres eventually dissipated after the guy got tired of watching, dropping Gray and Natsu down to the ground, both of them weakened, injured, and drained of their magic.

Parts of Natsu's body was tinged with black by the sparks, but left no life-threatening marks or gashes thanks to his dragon skin. Gray, however, had parts of his body slightly singed, and his hip scar was opened up, bleeding profusely all over the ground, coating it red. Natsu glanced hopelessly at Gray, an amount of tears starting to stream from his eyes.

 _I'm sorry, Gray! I'm really sorry I let this happen to you! I'm so sorry!_

"I'll be taking this now."

The guy grabbed the canister which was just an arm's reach from Natsu. Then the guy leaned towards Natsu and pressed his suppressed pistol at the Fire Dragon Slayer's forehead. Natsu weakly glared at the guy.

"Any last words, pinky? I'll give you time to console with your inner demons, and perhaps your idiocy, your one-sided love life, your..."

 _Wait, what?_

The guy blabbered on and on about the list of things Natsu could console with. Then Natsu saw someone sneaking up to the guy, who told Natsu to keep distracting the guy by eyeballing him. Once the sneaking figure was close enough to the guy, he jabbed at the guy's head with a baton, sending him down to the ground, unconscious. Natsu's savior then squatted beside him.

"That's what I like about the bad guys. They always talk around before getting to pulling the trigger."

The savior said as Natsu tried to keep his head raised to no avail, making contact with the ground again due to him being awfully weakened. The savior tried to keep Natsu upright.

"You okay, kamerad?"

"G-Gray..."

"The shirtless guy? He's alright. Bleeding, but alright."

"H-help..."

Natsu lost consciousness. The savior's comrades came rushing in shortly afterwards, which he directed towards the two injured mages.

"Get them to the infirmary! Now, not tomorrow!"

* * *

 ***Insert usual rant for favoriting, following and reviews* xD**


	5. Unrelenting Frost

**I was supposed to post this sooner but college, The Division, and Warframe kept me occupied. Sorry!**

 **Oh and I'll refer to Frosch as an "it" to avoid any confusion since I dunno if she's a girl or if he's a boy.**

* * *

Natsu woke up from his unconsciousness, his vision starting off as blurry. Once his vision cleared up a bit, he noticed a seated Moskovian male in front of him, and that he was in an all-white room and on a bed.

"Who are you? Why are you so.. white?"

"Hahaha, very funny. And no, I'm not that fair skinned. Anyways, do you remember me?"

Natsu took in the guy's appearance; the guy is fair skinned, but not as fair as Lev. He's also blonde-haired, has yellow eyes, a nice face, and donned a black jacket, dark grey denim pants, black-and-red sneakers, and a red button-up shirt with the top four buttons undone. Then Natsu noticed a holster and a baton attached to the guy's belt, immediately recognizing the baton.

"You're the guy that hit the other guy."

"That's right."

Natsu started to panic once he started to recall what happened the previous night, his thoughts immediately going to a bleeding-out Gray. He attempted to jolt from his bed, but the Moskovian kept him from getting off it.

"Wait! Where's that guy?! And Gray?!"

"Your assailant is being interrogated, and your friend is asleep. He lost a lot of blood, but he'll live. Good thing your exceed friend alerted us about the fight."

Natsu calmed down and settled on the bed again. He thought of giving Happy more fish for what he did. Then he felt that parts of his body have gone numb, explaining how the Moskovian was able to easily restrain him. Natsu looked around his surroundings.

"Soo, where am I? And where's Happy? My exceed?"

"Your companion is resting.. somewhere in this building, I dunno. Guy likes to fly around. And you're in Saber-"

Suddenly, a male blonde with a crop top suddenly popped up and tackled Natsu's resting form on the bed, hugging him while sounding very ecstatic.

"NATSU!"

"-tooth."

The Moskovian blonde stared in disbelief at other blonde's action. Natsu immediately recognized the mop of blonde hair and his hugger's voice.

"Oh, hi Sting."

"Ya alright? I was really worried!"

"Thanks?"

Natsu and Sting stared at each other in an awkard manner before a cough interrupted their spacing-out.

"I'll go check on the other guy."

The Moskovian male left Natsu's side and went elsewhere, to Gray. Meanwhile, Sting sat beside Natsu and brought out a magazine from out of nowhere.

Wait, isn't that... that is it!

"Hey, Natsu? I didn't know you were into this stuff.. "

Sting held up the monthly sexy male mages magazine with unintelligible letters to Natsu's face. The Fire Dragon Slayer went red with embarrassment, and shot Sting an awkward look, while the Holy Dragon Slayer was grinning for some reason.

"Ahah..hahaha.. I-I can explain that-"

"No need, man. I get it.."

Sting opened the magazine and flipped through its pages, stopping every once in a while, his eyes glued to the pages in lustful satisfaction. Natsu stared at Sting confusedly as he flipped through the pages while right in front of Natsu.

 _Ehhhhh?_

"Can ya actually read this? I mean, the pics are what matter- Damn, these guys are hot..! But some extra info is always nice, right? Natsu?"

Sting said to Natsu in a jovial manner while his eyes stayed glued to the magazine. He went to look at Natsu, who was giving him an even more awkward look, which made Sting put the magazine away in a hurry, a bit embarrassed with his "viewing".

"Sooo hehe, anyway, have ya met him?"

Sting referred to the blonde Moskovian. Natsu shook his head.

"Not really."

"Mm, he's one of those foreign guys helping us with the snow. Speaking of foreigners, did Fairy Tail get one also?"

"Yeah, we did. I got.. that.. from our guy."

Natsu pointed to the magazine which was on Sting's lap, apparently trying to hide something..

"Oooh, Natsu. So, what's he look like?"

Natsu motioned for the magazine, which Sting immediately gave to Natsu. Sting's arm immediately went to cover his crotch area.

 _Yep, he's hard._

Natsu shrugged at the thought, then he opened the magazine, trying to find the page with Lev on it, trying hard not to get any ideas from the content. Once he got to Lev's page, he gave it to Sting at once.

"He's.. this guy."

Natsu's face went red again. Sting stared at the page with his mouth agape, letting some drool escape from it, then he licked his lips.

"H-holy-! Man, Fairy Tail's so damn lucky..."

Natsu stared at Sting's expression-laden face with a mix of surprise and confusion.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Uhh, whadd'ya think?"

Sting said with an "obvious" vibe. He pointed at the magazine, then to his erection which he's still covering with his other arm. Sting's face was also a bit red.

"Oh."

Sting let out a light laugh. Then Natsu's infirmary door suddenly opened with a light creak, a silver-haired female head soon followed, peeking through; said person happened to be Yukino.

"Sting, an angry Shadow Dragon is calling for you. He's in your office."

"Thanks Yukino. I'll go there now."

Yukino smiled and bowed at Sting, then she waved at Natsu, who parroted her. Yukino left after that, leaving the door open for Sting.

"Catch ya later, Natsu. I got crap to do."

"Okay, see you Sting."

Sting left Natsu's side, leaving the magazine on a table beside the bed, then he went out of the room, closing the door behind him. Soon afterwards, the blonde Moskovian from earlier stepped inside the room and sat down beside Natsu, an amused expression on his face as he eyed the magazine on the table.

"You got that from Lev, didn't you? He was always the peculiar one.."

Natsu looked away in embarassment, his face turning red again like the many times it did earlier.

"Soo you're his 'colleague'?"

"Right you are."

"I don't think Lev told you about me apart from being his colleague, so let me introduce myself. I'm Ulrich Eiswolf, Zmey's Star's head archivist and researcher."

"I'm Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer."

The two nodded in accordance. Natsu suddenly remembered the canister, shooting up in panic.

"Wait! The canister!"

"Don't worry, I already have it. You can calm down now."

Natsu calmed down and sighed, lying down on the bed again. Ulrich went to look at the machines monitoring Natsu's health, looking for any huge oddities, which he didn't find.

"You should get some rest. And drink this."

Ulrich brought out a small vial with clear blue liquid in it. Natsu took it and scrutinized it, treating it as a sort of deadly thing.

"What's this do?"

"It heals any internal damage you might've sustained as much as possible. We gave some to your friend also, and he seems to be healing quickly."

"Oh.. okay."

Natsu drank the liquid in one gulp. His expression screamed "Blegh! What the heck is in this thing?!". Ulrich tried not to laugh at Natsu's expression.

"Both of you should be in good shape by tomorrow. Rest for now."

"That stuff better be worth it."

Ulrich went for the door, closing the lights on his way out. Natsu went back to sleep, happy on knowing that Gray is alright, and that he'll be able to get off the bed tomorrow.

* * *

A minty scent overwhelmed Natsu's nose, making it twitch. The source of the smell grinned at the display. Natsu sleepily opened his eyes, the first thing coming into his sight being the source, who happened to be none other than Gray.

"Good morning, fire brain."

"Good morning to you too, ice dick."

"You really like using that nickname, don't you?"

Gray grinned as he teased Natsu, making the Fire Dragon's Face go red again for the umpteenth time.

"Dick as in jerk! Not your.. you know."

"Jerk as in...?"

Natsu face went redder as he glared holes at Gray for the teasing. The ice mage raised his hands in defense while laughing.

"Okay, okay. I was just messing with you. We're having breakfast now, so get your lazy ass off the bed."

Natsu lunged at Gray, tightly hugging the ice mage. Gray sighed and patted Natsu on his back.

"Of course, you need your hugs."

Gray could suddenly hear sobs coming from Natsu; an uncommon occurrence. Gray took his face to meet Natsu's, which was overflowing with tears.

"Natsu? Are you crying?"

"I-I'm so sorry! I'm very sorry!"

"Sorry? About what?"

"I almost got you killed! You almost die-"

Gray pulled Natsu towards him, hugging him tighter while rubbing comforting circles on the Fire Dragon Slayer's back. Natsu's crying lessened.

"I suggested to fight, flame brain. Technically, it's my fault. not yours."

"B-but-!"

Gray grabbed Natsu by the shoulders and stared at him with a determined expression.

"Look, I'm alive, you're alive. That's what matters, okay? The canister too.."

"Okay.."

Natsu continued to hug Gray as his sobs subsided to just sniffles. Gray continued to rub comforting circles on Natsu's back.

"You know, I'd prefer this over fighting and insults any day."

"Hmm?"

"You heard me. I'm just tired of all the fights and insults ever since, and I guess I like helping you out more than fighting you. I did tell you that, right?"

"Mmhmm."

Gray prompted Natsu to let go of him, which he reluctantly did. Tapping Natsu's shoulder, Gray led him towards the door.

"Now, come on Natsu. I bet you're hungry."

* * *

Natsu continuously ate plate after plate of food, not stopping for a breather. They, meaning Natsu, Gray, Happy, Sting, Rogue, and Ulrich, were seated at a table in Sabertooth's dining hall; Yukino was the one cooking so she's not present at the table. Ulrich stared in bewilderment as he watched Natsu grab his next plate of food.

"Is that his... fifth plate already?"

"Yes."

"Mein gott."

Ulrich continued to stare in bewilderment as he watched Natsu eat his fifth plate of food, which made him lose his appetite, pushing the plate of steak in front of him away.

"Do dragon slayers have big stomachs or something?"

"I guess we do? We can technically eat a lot so.. there."

Sting replied to Ulrich's question, eyeing Natsu to reinforce his statement. Ulrich groaned and slouched on his chair.

"Yo, Ulrich. What was in that canister? They wouldn't just attack us just for a pile of snow, you know?"

Natsu asked Ulrich as he gulped down the last of the food on his plate. The archivist looked back at him lazily.

"Well, it wasn't snow. Rather, a magical artifact."

Natsu arched an eyebrow, denoting his confusement.

"An.. artifact? What's that?"

Natsu asked Ulrich. His question earned the curiousity of the others, their gazes turning towards Ulrich. The archivist stood up and stretched.

 _Jawohl, master archivist! Better get your story-telling skills ready!_

"Well, let's say you have a field of ethernano, or a bunch of stuff exposed to a lot of ethernano. When the ethernano compresses, which occurs more commonly in Moskovia, they form a sort of malformed object with magic properties. Same thing happens to exposed objects, but it retains its properties, more or less. And since ethernano doesn't have a 'magic type', its properties are influenced by its surroundings. For example, an ethernano field near a volcano will be more aligned to heat and fire magic types. Do you follow?"

The group nodded to an extent.

"Okay. One thing I've found out about the snow is that they contain a really small amount of ethernano, meaning its created magically. And since they're all clumped up here, artifacts are bound to pop up. So far, the one Lev had you send to me was a sort of crystal that amplifies the power of any cold-based magic."

Gray's interest suddenly piqued, thinking that the object would be very useful for him.

"However, the artifact is still emitting ethernano, which means it's still deadly. I'm gonna test an experimental stabilizer that I made and see if it can minimize the crystal's ethernano levels. If it's a success, it could be used by an ice mage to amplify their power."

Ulrich finished his lengthy explanation. Natsu elbowed an amused-looking Gray out of his ice-filled imagination.

"Sounds like you could use that, Gray."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. But he'll probably give it to Lev. They are colleagues."

Gray mentally deflated at the thought, making Natsu lightly snicker at the ice mage's suddenly lazy form.

"But why the attack on Natsu and Gray? The guy that attacked them doesn't look like he's from Fiore. And it did look like he knew what was inside the canister."

Sting asked in a slightly irked manner.

"Correct, the guy isn't from here. Turns out he and his companions were just a bunch of artifact hunters from Koschei Hell, a rogue mercenary guild."

"Rogue guild? Rogue has a guild?"

Sting stifled a laugh from his attempted joke, to which Rogue frowned at.

"It's Moskovia's equivalent to Fiore's dark guilds; bad guys galore."

Ulrich replied to a slightly snickering Sting. He rolled his eyes at the Holy Dragon Slayer's display.

"Anyway, the repellant lacrima is on the way. It should be up and running at Crocus by tomorrow. That way, while we investigate, you guys won't have to deal with this unrelenting frost and snow."

"Finally! It won't be so damn cold anymore!"

Sting shot up from his seat in a victorious pose. Rogue gave him a "sit down" glare, to which Sting responded to by plopping himself down to his seat.

"It's just gonna repel the snow from key locations in Fiore, which means most outskirts areas would receive it instead. Just so you know."

An awkward silence overtook the group as Ulrich finished explaining things. Then a short cough from Natsu killed the silence.

"Can me and Gray go back to Fairy Tail now? You did say we'd be fully healed today."

"Oh, right. You two can go back to your guild now, unless you'd like to stay and chat with Sabertooth?"

Before Natsu could speak, an ecstatic Sting grabbed him by his hand and tugged at him.

"Cool! Natsu, I got something to show ya!"

"Uhh, okaaay?"

Sting whooshed away Natsu to a room somewhere in Sabertooth's guild hall. Gray looked at the two, chuckling at the "helplessy-dragged-away" Natsu. Gray turned to Rogue, who had an exasperated look on his face.

"They'll be fine. You have a quiet place somewhere?"

"We have the recreational area, I'll show you."

* * *

Sting dragged Natsu to the top floor of the guild hall and into an old storage room with a very dusty and stale scent. Sting motioned for Natsu to sit down on a box, which he did, and Sting just leaned against a huge crate. A smirk graced Sting's lips, slightly unnerving Natsu.

"Sooo, Natsu. Who's your mate?"

"I.. figured you'd ask me that."

"That's because it's a very strong scent, bro! So, who is it?"

Natsu looked away from Sting's gaze, slight red forming on his cheeks AGAIN.

"I.. don't really want to tell anyone. I'm just waiting for it to go away anyway."

Natsu said meekly. Sting arched an eyebrow in response.

"What?"

"I think.. if I give it enough time, it'll go away. Besides, it's not like that person would.. return it anyway."

"You don't know that, Natsu. Why dont'cha ask the person and find out?"

Sting squatted near Natsu and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"Because.. if I tell that person that I'm his mate.. and that person gets disgusted by me and chooses to abandon me, hurt me.. I can take a physical fight but not an emotional one.. I don't want our friendship to be ruined because of that."

"Bro, if that person does that to you after telling them, they weren't your friends in the first place."

Natsu looked at Sting with unsure eyes. Sting's expression softened.

"Fine, it's your decision. Ya don't have to tell me if ya don't want to."

"I-It's Gray."

Sting froze, like a block of ice. The Holy Dragon Slayer's soft expression slowly morphed into one of shock and disbelief.

"What?! How?! You guys fight and hate each others' guts!"

"There's no other person I know better. We've known each other since we were kids. And just because we fight and stuff doesn't mean we don't look out for each other."

Natsu said in a soft voice, then his nose slightly twitched, picking up a peculiar scent.

"Hey, speaking of smells, you smell a little. And I know you took a bath since you smell so soapy."

"Uhh..hehe.. it's nothing, it'll go away since it's weak. It can change."

Now it was Sting's turn to become emotional. Natsu playfully punched Sting's shoulder.

"Who is it? Hey, I told you mine so it's only fair to tell me yours."

"R-Rogue..."

Sting said meekly, his face turning really red. Natsu grinned at Sting.

"I guess it's because like you and Gray. You tend to start liking someone you've known for a long time since you know everything about them.. and since you're already best friends. I guess I could relate.."

"Hmph. You're one to talk about me and Gray. Go ask Rogue. I dare ya."

Sting looked at Natsu in disbelief. Natsu continued grinning at him.

"Mine can change, yours has a very low chance of changing since it's already strong. Dare me as much as ya like, Natsu, but I won't.. I-I can't."

Sting pressed his head against his squatting legs and hugging them, appearing like a squatting ball of sorts. Feeling a bit guilty for making Sting behave like that, Natsu then asked him about the original reason for going to the room.

"You wanted to show me something?"

Sting lit up and stood up, slightly creeping out Natsu at the three-sixty mood change. Sting went for a box on top of a shelf.

"Right! I found these cringe-worthy stuff while going through Sabertooth's storage...!"

* * *

Rogue and Gray were currently in Sabertooth's recreational room. Rogue was reading a book, while Gray played around with Frosch using his hand. Lector and Happy were also in another part of the room, having a comically heated discussion about types of fishes.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"I prefer not to."

"Fro thinks Rogue is very shy!"

Frosch said as it grabbed hold of Gray's hand, lightly tugging at it. Rogue turned slightly red at the statement and covered his face with the book as Gray petted Frosch, who seemed delighted at the ice mage's gesture. A crash was suddenly heard from the top floors, then Rogue noticed that the temperature has begun to drop as cold started to prick on his skin.

"That stupid radiator must have broken again...!"

Rogue bolted off for the stairs. Gray observed the Shadow Dragon's retreating figure as he continued to pet Frosch.

"Okay..."

 _Hmm, I wonder what you and Sting are up to, Natsu..._

* * *

Sting was laughing his ass off as Natsu looked very sickly from what he saw in a photo Sting handed to him; said photo got burnt to a crisp by Natsu very quickly.

"That was disgusting! I think I wanna vomit..."

Natsu clutched at his stomach, trying to hold off the rising bile. Sting, meanwhile, was clutching at his stomach due to him rolling on the floor while laughing.

"No! Wait-HAHAHAHA-Natsu!"

Rogue suddenly entered the room, looking to find the radiator to fix it or kick iy out of anger. Instead, he found a curled-up Sting on the floor, and Natsu standing beside him.

"R-Rogue? What're you doing here?"

"The radiator broke. Again. Did you have any part in making it malfunction, Sting?"

"W-what? No! What makes you think that?"

"For starters, you're stuttering like a broken video."

Sting's gaze landed on a rectangular object which happened to be the radiator; he accidentally kicked it while laughing uncontrollably, which dislodged it. Rogue stared at Sting with a blank expression, which usually meant impending doom for the Holy Dragon Slayer.

"O-oh. Uhh.. Rogue?"

Sting started to appear scared. Rogue turned his head towards Natsu, and spoke nonchalantly.

"Natsu, please step out."

"Oh, sure!"

Natsu showed himself out and locked the door, distancing himself from the door. Out of curiousity, he eavesdropped close by.

 _Sting, you've been acting unlike yourself lately. Is something wrong?_

 _Nothing's wrong, I swear!_

 _Is it because of that faint scent of yours?_

 _D-don't bring that up! Don't remind me.._

 _It's very faint, but it smells so familiar... you and-_

 _I'll have someone come over to repair the thing! Be right back!_

Sting suddenly bolted through the door, which was a relief for Natsu since he wasn't pressing his ear against the door. Rogue exited the room shortly, finding Natsu beside the door. Rogue eyed Natsu with suspicion.

"Did Sting tell you anything of what's bothering him?"

"Uhh, no. We were just looking at some stuff he found."

Natsu tried to keep a poker face on, which didn't work due to Rogue's intense stare. Natsu started to cold sweat under Rogue's intense gaze, which seemed to pierce directly into his soul.

 **"Natsu."**

Rogue squinted at Natsu to make him spill out the secrets of the universe, making him look more intimidating; it worked.

"Okay! He did tell me something but I'm not at liberty to say!"

Natsu blurted out. Satisfied with the answer, Rogue relaxed his tensed self. A worried expression soon formed on Rogue's face.

"At least he told you something. It's like he doesn't trust me anymore."

"He does! What he told me is kinda sensitive is all."

Natsu smiled at Rogue, telling him to cheer up. The Shadow Dragon nodded in response.

"I'll have to coax it out of him sometime. Thank you for telling me at least that, Natsu."

"Okay, Rogue."

Rogue walked towards the stairs, and descended the first few steps before stopping.

"Your boyfriend is downstairs, waiting at the recreational area."

Rogue said to Natsu while smirking, then he continued down the staircase. Natsu's face instantly heated up, and he retaliated.

"H-hey! He's not my boyfriend!"

 _-Yet.. I hope._

After that little "argument" with Rogue, Natsu decided to idle around the top floor of Sabertooth's guild hall. Ulrich happened to be walking along the hallway, and encouraged Natsu to come with him, saying that he might like what he'll see. Currently, Natsu and Ulrich are in front gate of the guild hall, watching a bunch of Fiorian soldiers stuff Natsu's attacker into a prisoner transport carriage. Natsu watched with anger due to what he did to him and Gray, and with satisfaction knowing he'll be imprisoned.

"Where are they taking that bastard?"

"To a secure facility, then he'll be deported back to Moskovia under tight security; him and his buddies."

Ulrich replied, eliciting a satisfied chuckle from Natsu.

"Good. That bastard almost killed me and.. Gray."

"Speaking of you and Gray, you two should head back to Fairy Tail now. In the meantime, we'll discuss with the guild masters and the King of Fiore about forming a task force to combat the situation."

Ulrich then said to Natsu, who was filing out some paperwork on a clipboard. Natsu looked at Ulrich in an unsure manner, mainly because of the task force idea.

"Why not just have your country deal with it?"

Ulrich twitched at the answer for some reason, then he turned to face Natsu, putting away the clipboard and looking at him directly in the eye, unnerving the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Because, we don't even know who's behind this. For all we know, it could be the Black Hand Alliance of rogue guilds, the Whitestone League of legal guilds, maybe one of the krais, or even all of them! Moskovia itself!"

"Okay, okay! I get it!"

Ulrich eased off afterwards, returning back to his clipboard. Natsu grunted at him. Then Ulrich shot him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to foreigners. By the way, in stabilizing the artifact, I had to split the thing into two just to prevent it from overloading.."

Ulrich brought out a pair of ice-blue crystals the size of a bullet, both appearing to have been halved from each other. Both of them had a sort of ring attached to their median points. The archivist handed them both over to Natsu, who lit with joy.

"Give one to Lev, and one to Gray. Your friend's an ice mage, right?"

"Yeah!"

A gift for Gray! He'll definitely love this!

"Thanks! Gray will love this!"

Ulrich waved Natsu off, then the Fire Dragon Slayer dashed off back inside the guild hall, going towards Gray, who he found in the recreational area with a sleeping Frosch on his lap.

"Hey, Gray! I got something for ya!"

"Hmm?"

Nearby, the audible snickers of Happy and Lector were evident. Natsu glared at the two exceeds hiding behind a sofa to shush them up.

Happy! You little traitor!

Gray tapped Natsu on his shoulder, notifying Natsu about the thing he got for Gray. Natsu instructed Gray to let out a hand, then Natsu took out one of the crystals and placed it on said hand. Gray scrutinized the artifact.

"Is this the artifact Ulrich was talking about?"

"Yeah. He had to split it. So now, one's for Lev, and this one's for you!"

Gray pocketed the artifact, and smiled at Natsu as thanks. In return, Natsu grinned and tackled Gray for a hug, avoiding Frosch as to not crush it. Apart from two exceeds snickering and a sleeping Frosch, no one was around to witness the public display of affection.

"You're really the hugging type, aren't you?"

"Yep!"

Natsu released Gray from his hug once the ice mage told him he was starting to get asphyxiated. After his coughing fit, he redirected his attention to Natsu.

"Hey, wanna eat some snacks before we go back to Magnolia?"

"Sure. Hey, eating contest!"

Natsu beamed at Gray, then the Fire Dragon Slayer ran towards the dining hall. Gray groaned and face-palmed at Natsu's huge appetite for food.

"Snacks, Natsu. SNACKS. NOT A BUFFET."

After eating some "snacks", Gray and Natsu went for the train back to Magnolia, which Natsu didn't want to get into. But since the train was about to depart, Gray gutpunched and immobilized Natsu and carried him bridal style towards their cabin, eliciting some odd looks from the nearby passengers, which the ice mage glared down.

* * *

After hours of riding the train, it was already nighttime, and Natsu woke up from his unconsciousness, immediately getting sick as soon as he realized he was on the train. He stuck his head out of the train cabin, preparing to hurl.

"Jeeez, fire brain. What's with dragon slayers and transportation anyway?"

The train slightly tilted at at turn, sending Natsu away from the window and onto Gray's lap. Interestingly, Natsu no longer felt sick.

"Uhh.. Gray?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't.. feel sick anymore."

Out of curiosity, and wanting to mess with Natsu, he pulled him off his lap, which immediately made Natsu seriously dizzy and sick. Having seen enough and feeling guilty for what he did to the dragon slayer, he layed Natsu's head down back to his lap, and the Fire Dragon Slayer's state was normalized, yet angry.

"You ice bastard! What was that for?!"

"Just wanted to check. Hehe"

Irritated at Gray's antics, Natsu reluctantly forced himself off Gray's lap, making him sick and dizzy yet again. As Gray motioned for Natsu to go back to his leg, the Fire Dragon Slayer shook his head violently, thinking another antic is up.

"Relax, I won't do it again. C'mere."

Gray forcibly tugged at Natsu until the dragon slayer was on his lap, then he bent down and hugged Natsu's lying form out of his own volition, which surprised the dragon slayer.

"But.. you said you don't like doing these things in public."

"It's nighttime already, flame brain. No one will see us. Besides, take it as my way of saying 'I'm sorry', okay?"

"O-okay."

Natsu pressed himself onto Gray's lower torso, then he hugged Gray from that area. Natsu made content noises as he tried to relax.

"Thanks, Gray."

"Anytime, Natsu."

 _This feels so.. awkward.._

* * *

 **A review? A favorite? A follow? Your thoughts in general?**


	6. Instigators

**I had to retype this chapter because my computer decided to be an asshole and corrupted my previous file for this. As a result, this chapter will be shorter and will only serve as a bridge for the next. (It was supposed to contain a long fight scene, but it has been removed. I'll make up for this in the coming chapters.) Oh and sorry if it looks rushed.**

* * *

The two arrived at Magnolia station the following day. Once the train stopped, Natsu bolted for the exit and plopped himself face-down on the station's flooring, as if he was hugging it.

"Solid ground!"

Gray followed after him. Once the ice mage noticed Natsu's flat form on the ground, he bended over and lifted the dragon slayer up.

"Okay. How about lunch?"

Gray asked the dragon slayer, which was followed by Natsu's stomach rumbling and his response.

"Yeah, I'm starving!"

"How about that ramen house that I busted you out from?"

Natsu stared at Gray in disbelief for bringing that past memory up. But since the food there is really good, he fished for some money in his pockets; he only found some spare change, which caused him to form an embarassed expression on his face. Gray put a hand on Natsu's shoulder and smiled brightly at him.

"Don't worry, I'll be paying, okay?"

Natsu gazed at Gray's eyes as he practically beamed at the dragon slayer. Natsu turned red and felt butterflys in his stomach.

 _You can be so caring at times..._

"O-okay."

Happy flew in-between the two.

"Oh look at you twoooooo. Is it a date?"

"Furball, quit making it look like that."

Natsu turned really red at the mention of a date with Gray. Happy laughed at Gray's reaction, which sounded more playful than accusatory. Then Gray grabbed Natsu's wrist and dragged him along as he walked for the ramen house, eliciting protests from the dragon slayer. Happy went to lie down on Natsu's head as the Fire Dragon Slayer got dragged.

"H-hey!"

* * *

After eating at the ramen house, they headed for Fairy Tail's guild hall. Happy slept on Natsu's head to sleep of the food. Along the way, they were greeted by wary and confused gazes of Magnolia's citizens due to their unusually friendly behavior and their lack of fighting which was replaced by a civil conversation with the occasional laughter. The two mages took notice of the odd stares they were receiving.

"Ya think they're scared because we're not fighting, popsicle?"

"I dunno, who cares? Anyway, it's better this way, right?"

 _Yeah, it really is Gray.._

"Beats beating you up."

"Oi, I'll be the one beating you up."

The citizens listened warily, getting relieved as they thought they were gonna fight already; that relief soon vanished as the two mages laughed at each other's statements. They were now really suspicious of their uncanny behavior.

As they neared the guild hall, Natsu's nose twitched and picked up really suspicious scents coming from the guild hall.

"Something's wrong at the guild!"

Natsu sprinted for the guild, with Gray following close behind him. As they got to the guild hall, everything looked fine until Natsu tried to open its doors, which wouldn't budge. Natsu kicked down the jammed doors, and was greeted by wrecked furniture, burn streaks all over the walls and floors, weird glowing cyan-colored fluids on some parts of the hall, and bullet casings all over the floor. Natsu and Gray went to their battle stances, and cautiously stepped inside the guild hall, treading lightly as Natsu sniffed for the cause behind the mess. Natsu picked up some scents.

"I smell Lev.. blood.. and someone who isn't from here."

"Think it's our guy?"

"We'll find out soon enough. He's upstairs."

Gray went to poke at the blue mass on Natsu's head.

"Happy, get help. Now."

Happy groggily got up due to him still being sleepy, but once he saw the guild hall's interior, he sprung up, nodded, and flew towards the nearby guilds.

Natsu then prepared to rush in and confront the potential hostile, but Gray held him back with a hand on the dragon slayer's wrist.

"Idiot. We don't even know what we're up against. Let's just find this guy quietly, okay? You can beat him to a pulp later."

Natsu quietly groaned in annoyance, but reluctantly agreed with a nod. The two quietly went up the stairs and through the second floor, where they found a slightly ajar door. The two positioned themselves beside the doorframe, and Natsu went to peek at the room.

Natsu found a guy wearing a black trenchcoat, a cap, and a mask that covered his mouth and nose. He also found Lev, who was heavily beaten, unconscious, and being stripped of his clothing by the guy.

Natsu was preparing to lunge at the intruder but Gray beckoned for him not to yet. Looking closely, the guy wore the same light-emitting gauntlets as their attacker from before. Natsu watched the intruder, who has finished removing Lev's vest, pants, and shoes, leaving him in only his black-and-white boxers. The guy was currently fondling the Ice Dragon Slayer's chest, his abs, then to his crotch which the guy aggressively palmed. Then the intruder's gauntlets suddenly turned off, which the guy constantly beat to get back working.

"Fine. Recharge. It's not like I'll be needing you right now anyway."

The guy turned his attention back to Lev's unconscious and half-naked form.

"Now time to have some fun with you, pretty boy dragon slayer."

As the guy was starting to tug off Lev's boxers, Natsu lunged at him with immolated fists.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"

Natsu's fist hit spot-on the guy's face, sending him flying towards a steel pole, rendering him unconscious. Natsu and Gray then rushed to Lev's side, a mix of shock and anger forming on their faces.

"Gray, get some stuff from the infirmary. We'll have to heal him."

Gray nodded and rushed downstairs towards the infirmary. Meanwhile, Natsu was inspecting Lev's wounds and bruises.. along with the interesting bits.. but he shook those thoughts away immediately, having to worry about Lev's current state first.

"Hey, Lev! Can ya hear me buddy?"

No response. Natsu went to light tapping at Lev's face.

"Lev? Wake up!"

Still no response. Natsu feared the worst.

 _Is he... dead?! Nonono!_

Natsu grabbed hold of Lev's shoulders and shook him violently.

"Lev! You have to wake up! Lev! Please!"

A small amount of tears started to stream from Natsu's eyes. Seemingly defeated, he punched the nearest object he could. Unintentionally, his punch landed on Lev's chest, causing the silver-haired male to cough, relieving Natsu.

"Lev! You okay man?"

Lev clutched at his stomach as he was currently having a coughing fit. Natsu tapped on his back in an effort to help him with his coughing. As Lev's coughing subsided, Natsu made the Ice Dragon Slayer sit upright and he sat down in front of him.

"Na.. Natsu?"

"Yeah! It's me! What happened?"

Lev clutched at his chest, the pain from Natsu's punch hitting him just now.

"Koschei Hell bastards.. they took my data and ran off. The bastards had some Dispell technology with them... we couldn't beat them. Gajeel and Pantherlily went to get help."

"I took care of that one guy, don't worry."

"Thank you. But the others ran off already, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, we'll beat em next time!"

Lev felt a slightly bit more chilly than usual, and that was when he noticed that he was only wearing his boxers. His face reddened at his state of undress.

"I.. why am I in just my boxers? Natsu?"

Lev looked at Natsu kinda suspiciously. Natsu's eyes widened at the accusation and raised his hands in his defense; his face tinged a bit red however.

"It was that guy! He was gonna rape you, but we stopped him! Jeez, it wasn't us."

"Us?"

Natsu then realized that he hasn't mentioned Gray to Lev yet.

"Oh right. Gray went to get stuff from the infirmary to help patch you up. He should be back anytime now."

* * *

 **HOURS LATER..**

Fairy Tail was set to fixing up their messed-up guild hall, and Lev is in the infirmary. Makarov has just returned from the meeting with the guild masters and the King of Fiore with the final decision in hand. Natsu was the first to see him and came up to give him Fairy Tail's status report.

"Gramps!"

"I've already been told of what happened. Speaking of which, due to this, the task has been cleared for formation. I'll give more details later, right now I have paperwork to fill out. Be on your way, lad."

Makarov walked away from Natsu and into the guild hall. The Fire Dragon Slayer went giddy at the thought of adventuring into foreign lands.

 _Awesome! We're going on a trip! A trip... ughh.._

Natsu looked sick at the thought of the trip, which usually involves vehicles. Then from behind him, Ulrich tapped on his shoulder, startling Natsu. The archivist just stood there with a worried expression on his face.

"Natsu, how's Lev?"

"He's in the infirmary, he'll be alright."

"Good. I wouldn't want to lose another kamerad."

Ulrich's expression then turned solemn. Natsu could relate to an extent, losing someone close to you. Trying to change the subject, Natsu thought of the thing Lev mentioned earlier.

"Lev mentioned Dispell technology. What's that?"

Ulrich's expression then turned into a neutral one as he rubbed his head.

"Dispell technology.. what I can tell you is that it can cancel any magic you cast and any magic spell that's been casted. In short, it nullifies magic to the point of uselessness."

"So that's why they were able to defeat him."

Natsu's expression turned grim. Ulrich brought out a folder labeled "Top Secret" from his jacket and opened it, reading its contents. Natsu went to peek in with a grin, but it turned into a pout as soon as Natsu realized that it was in the Moskovian language. Ulrich shot him a smug look.

"Yeah, that's how we definitely know the cause is from Moskovia. Dispel technology was a project by Moskovgrad's Molotov Institute of Military Science, Magic, and Technology. That's all I can tell you, the rest is classified info."

"Secret agent type aren't ya? Fine."

"No, I'm not like that. The rest are classified, I don't even know what they are."

"Hmm.. okay."

Ulrich closed the folder and placed it back into his jacket. The archivist turned to Natsu with a curious look on his face.

"Sabertooth has been told to create a task force for Moskovia, and I guess for you guys too. Guess we've been cleared for operations."

"You're going with Sabertooth?"

"Yeah. And Lev's going with you guys. Our other colleagues in other guilds will stay though, to monitor the lacrima and the snow. Besides, you guys need a tourist guide, ja?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Natsu looked at Ulrich blankly, making the latter chuckle. Ulrich then turned to walk inside the guild hall, towards the infirmary.

"Just wait for the news tomorrow. They'll have the list of people by then."

"Okay."

As soon as Ulrich disappeared behind the guild doors, Natsu went home, well knowing that Happy would be there already.

* * *

The following day, Natsu overslept. There were two things currently poking him to get up, a talking blue cat and a half-naked ice mage.

"Natsu, get up. They want you at the guild hall."

"Yeah, ash-for-brains. Or did your brain really get burnt up from all that sleeping."

Natsu's eyes widened as he got energized at the insult. He sprung up from his bed in a battle stance with his fists raised at the ice mage.

"What did ya call me, droopy eyes?!"

Gray crossed his arms and smirked at Natsu, while the latter waited for a comeback.

"I knew that would wake you up. Now come on, gramps is waiting."

Gray walked out of Natsu's bedroom nonchalantly. Natsu stood on his bed, confused by his response. Then he realized that they're supposed to be normal friends.. and that he constantly hugs and snuggles at his supposed friend.

 _Oh._

Natsu's face turned red at the though. Shaking those thoughts off, he jumped off the bed, and stared at Happy, who was covering his mouth and giggling.

"What're you giggling about?"

"Well Natsu, you're face is red. Thinking about your crush, hmmmmmm?"

Natsu's face turned even redder at Happy's teasing.

"W-whatever! Let's just go already."

"Ayyyyeee-yaaayyy, siiiiirrr!"

Happy continued to tease the dragon slayer, making the latter's face even more red. Then an evil smirk formed on Natsu's lips.

"You're not coming with me to Moskovia. I heard they have the best fish too."

Happy lost coloration. Natsu's evil smirk then turned to a happy one.

"I was just kidding, now c'mon! But cut it out, seriously."

"Have you thought about telling him?"

Natsu's expression then turned sad.

"N-no, I don't plan on telling him. It's for the best, little buddy. Now let's go."

Natsu said to Happy as he walked out of his room, the exceed following after him. Once he was almost outside, Gray's half-naked form was standing outside the chilly snow, with some of it building up on his hair. Natsu took notice as he closed and locked his front door.

"You're becoming an actual snowman now. It suits you."

Gray stared blankly at Natsu for the comment, then he playfully rubbed off the snow on his head.

"Not anymore."

Gray said to Natsu as he smirked at him. Natsu then went to hug the ice mage tightly. Gray reciprocated by hugging back as well. They hugged for a minute or so.

"Okay okay. But now let's go before Erza scolds us for being late."

Natsu released Gray from his clutches at the mention of Erza.

"Oh-uh right! Race ya!"

"You're on!"

Natsu and Gray broke off into a sprint, dislodging piles of snow as they ran for the guild hall. Happy flew behind while observing and snickering at the two.

* * *

 **Ehrm.. reviews, favorites, follows and such?**


	7. This is Not a Holiday! - Arrangements

**Just how a Soviet Penal Battalion kommissar in CoH2 puts it xD.**

 **This is part one of three of This is Not a Holiday!**

* * *

Natsu and Gray were sprinting for the guild hall, with the ice mage gaining the upper-hand on the dragon slayer. They ran for numerous city blocks until they've finally reached the guild hall.

"I.. won.."

Gray said to Natsu as he sweated and panted from the race.

"Whatever.. popsicle.."

Natsu replied, also sweating and panting. When Natsu turned his head to face Gray, he found himself staring at Gray's muscular, sweaty body, ogling the ice mage's sweat-laden chest until he saw a drop of sweat go from the median of his pectorals down to the curves of his abs, which then dissipated on contact with Gray's pants. Natsu licked his lips and immediately developed dirty thoughts in his mind.

 _You're so damn hot right now Gray! Maaan, the things I could do to you...!_

Happy being Happy, he left the two alone for their "quality time" by going inside the guild hall already while snickering. Meanwhile, Gray was staring at Natsu in bewilderment.

"Natsu? Yeah?"

Gray's voice snapped Natsu out of his trance, violently shaking his head in an effort to remove those dirty thoughts about Gray. As usual, Natsu's face went red.

"Oh uh, sorry. Let's get inside!"

Gray stared at Natsu as the Fire Dragon Slayer quickly opened the guild door, and continued holding it open for him.

"Ya waiting for something? Get in!"

"Right, thanks."

Gray thanked and patted Natsu on his back. As Natsu closed the door, he and Gray were greeted by Erza who appeared out of nowhere in front of them; her sudden appearance made both boys yelp in surprise.

"Good morning you two, and just on time as well."

"H-hi Erza!"

Both boys said in unison while shaking in fear. Erza had a calm demeanour at the moment.

"Pay attention to master now, he'll be announcing who will be part of the task force."

Erza gestured to Makarov, who was on stage and in the podium. Natsu and Gray quickly nodded before hastily departing from Erza.

"And Natsu? Gray?"

The two boys froze, and turned to face her with petrified expressions, thinking they're in trouble.

"It's good to see you two in friendly terms for once."

Erza said to the two with a smile. In response, Natsu smacked Gray's shoulder happily, making the ice mage go slightly off-balance.

"Better get used to it! We're gonna be like this for a while!"

Natsu beamed as he draped an arm over Gray's shoulders, who squinted at him cautiously due to earlier. Erza continued smiling at the two of them.

"That's good to hear. Now pay attention."

Erza gestured towards Makarov, who has finished sorting his papers on the podium.

"Okay, brats. After much thought, I've come up with the list of people who will be part of the task force. The lucky ones are..."

Most of the crowd looked at Makarov with fierce anticipation and hopeful looks. Some of them hoped not to be picked, being tired of the snow.

"Natsu."

Natsu did a victorious fist pump.

"Gray."

Gray smirked.

"Erza."

Erza nodded in accordance.

"Lucy."

Lucy looked at Makarov in a shocked way.

"and Gajeel."

Gajeel crossed his arms and grunted.

"Alright, let me repeat that again. Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, and Gajeel. Are we clear?"

Some sighed in disappointment, some in relief. The chosen ones, however, just stared at Makarov, waiting for further details.

"For those who were mentioned, meet me at my office. We'll discuss details. That is all."

Makarov stepped off the podium and the stage and went to his office. The crowd dispersed shortly afterwards. The chosen people went to Makarov's office and converged at the office's doorstep.

"Awesome! Right?"

Natsu said with much eagerness. Lucy looked at him tiredly.

"I dunno, I'm not looking forward to the cold."

Lucy responded as she leaned on a wall. Gajeel grunted at her.

"Then ask the old man to kick you out of the group. Why he picked you, I'll never get it."

"Hey!"

Gajeel said to the celestial mage irritatedly; he was not looking forward to going at all.

"That's enough! Master has his reasons, and I'm sure they're well thought out."

Erza interjected between the two. A short while later, it turned into a debate between Erza and Gajeel while the rest just stared at the debacle. Gray interrupted the two with a short cough.

"Let's just go inside already."

Gray said in a "tired of your shit" manner as he opened the door to Makarov's office.

Everyone stepped in Makarov's office one by one. Natsu picked up a familiar scent once the door opened, and once he stepped in, he saw that Lev happened to be waiting inside Makarov's office, sitting down on a chair, who waved at the group "hello". On sight of the Ice Dragon, Natsu rushed to his side and hugged his sitting form, relieved that he's all healed and well; said action raised the eyebrows of everyone but Gray, who nodded at Lev instead, who smiled back. Hearing Makarov's footsteps, Natsu released Lev from his clutches. Makarov gestured at Lev.

"Lev here has a map of Moskovia. If you will."

"Of course sir."

Lev sat up and detached his watch from his wrist, tapped on some of its buttons, and placed it in the middle of Makarov's table. After placing it, the watch projected a holographic map of Moskovia, amazing the group in the process due to the new technology being shown at them.

* * *

 **Map only available on AO3. Sorry, but FF thinks it's spam. The major cities are, from north to south: Moskovgrad, Kruziikkrah, Stahlburg, Shimoyama, Nasumpa, Aureus, and El Sol.**

* * *

"All right, now here's the plan. You five, along with Sabertooth's own group, will be investigating each major city in every krai. Lev will be directing you around there, so listen to him."

Makarov gestured for Lev to take over.

"We know for sure it is coming from Moskovia, but we do not know which krai, let alone what city. I already have a series of tasks for the group to carry out in each city, which will help us in finding more clues to whatever is causing this."

Lev bent down on the table and tapped some more buttons on the watch, which made it highlight the major cities; Lev pointed at them.

"Depending on the city, we will either have to travel by sea, or by air, but definitely not by land. That would take too long."

Lev straightened up his form as he crossed his arms behind him. He looked at the group with an intuitive stare, noticing that Gajeel and Natsu had sickly looks on their faces.

"Now, where shall we go first?"

* * *

 **Now this is why it'll be split into three parts:**

 **Here, I would like you, the reader, to tell me which major city for them to go first. Call it interactivity if you will.**

 **For part two, it's their departure and the trip.**

 **For part three, it's also the trip, but as they arrive into the city.**

 **For the next cities, it'll be split into two parts - Trip and Arrival.**

 **So go on! Spam me with your input!**


End file.
